Qatar in $8bn bid to buy Formula One motor racing: Report

A Qatari investment vehicle is working together with an American company to buy a multi-billion dollar stake in Formula One (F1) racing, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and RSE Ventures have teamed up to purchase a 35.5 percent share of F1 from its holding company CVC Capital Partners and the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

QSI is a subsidiary of the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and its most well-known asset is French football club Paris Saint Germain, which was bought for $130mn in 2012. RSE Ventures is a sports and entertainment company that was founded by 75-year-old Stephen Ross in 2012 and owns the American football team Miami Dolphins.

The Financial Times reported that it “is believed” QSI ultimately want “to buy the whole of F1”, citing unnamed sources close to the deal.

The Financial Times and Reuters both said that the deal could be worth up to $8bn, and could bolster the sport's presence in the US. 

Ecclestone told the FT that the 35.5 percent deal will see him sell his 5 percent holding in F1 but the British daily said it is likely the 84-year-old will remain involved in the sport in some capacity.

The deal remains in its early stages, however, with RSE reported to be in the due diligence phase of the purchase, while people close to CVC told the FT that the company was yet to receive a formal bid from the American-Qatari business partnership.

CVC originally owned 63.4 percent of F1 in 2006 but has reduced its holding to 35.5 percent in recent years after selling shares to investment companies Waddell & Reed, BlackRock, and Norges Bank – these sales followed a failed 2012 attempt to float F1 on the Singapore stock market.

Qatari sources told the FT that Doha views the racing sport as “an essential long-term commodity, like property” and is “an obvious gap in the country’s sporting portfolio”. RSE founder Ross is reported to believe that F1 could be exploited further in a commercial sense, with the sport having barely entered into the American market.

F1 already has close links to the Arab Gulf states, with an annual race taking place each year in both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Neither Qatar nor RSE have publicly commented on the mooted F1 deal.