Formula One offer from Liberty Media may be blocked by RBS and Goldman Sachs
A bid by Liberty Media for Formula One, the company that manages formula 1 car racing, may be blocked by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Goldman Sachs, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The report cited a source close to the situation who noted that this was because of concerns over the change of control covenant governing the debt facilities that CVC used to take over Formula One.
However, the source said that there were no real discussions taking place between CVC and Liberty.
The report noted that the covenant stipulates that a default on Formula One's senior debt facilities will occur if any shareholder apart from CVC holds more than 50.1% of Formula One.
The report said that RBS is one of Formula One's lenders. As previously reported, Goldman Sachs made significant investments into a Formula One bond issue
The report noted that Liberty Media has teamed up with Discovery Communications to bid for the 35% stake held by private equity firm CVC. The report noted that CVC holds the stake via Delta Topco, the holding that controls Formula One
Source Sunday Telegraph