Hong Kong conglomerate in race for F1
The conglomerate that owns Superdrug and mobile phone operator 3 was today reported to be preparing a $1bn (€828m) bid to buy Formula 1.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa is understood to have held talks about acquiring a 75% stake in SLEC, the holding company for the subsidiaries that own the commercial rights to Formula 1.
Discussions are thought to have featured its media subsidiary Tom Group and the three banks that control three-quarters of SLEC – JP Morgan, BayernLB and Lehman Brothers.
But the company is unwilling to press ahead with a deal without the backing of British tycoon Bernie Ecclestone who owns the remaining 25% of SLEC, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Discussions between the F1 teams and Mr Ecclestone over a new “Concorde” agreement to safeguard the franchise until 2012 will also play an important role in deciding whether Tom Group makes a formal offer for SLEC, it stated.
Hutchison Whampoa is controlled by billionaire Li Ka-Shing who is Hong Kong’s richest man. It is thought to be excited by the prospects for expanding Formula 1 in Asia, with Shanghai having been incorporated into the race calendar.
The newspaper report said the banks, which inherited their stake in SLEC in 2002 after German media group Kirch collapsed, are prepared to sell up.
Mr Ecclestone, who clinched a settlement with the banks in March over voting rights allowing the trio to wrest control of the sport’s commercial rights, is thought to be considering whether to support the Tom Group bid.
