The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) has stepped up its efforts to acquire a stake in the sport after confirming they have hired DC Advisory Partners and IMG to assist in their efforts.
The teams expressed an interest in acquiring current majority shareholder CVC’s part of the business (about 70%), after talks that BSkyB were looking to do the same, before backing down amid the ‘hacking’ scandal.
Formula One Administration and the teams are currently negotiating terms for the new Concorde Agreement which outlines the revenues the teams are entitled to – currently that stands at about 50% with CVC and other stakeholders, including Bernie Ecclestone, taking the remaining 50%.
The teams are keen to up that percentage and see ownership as a way to not only take control of the sport which depends on them, but to increase their own incomes.
“At the end of the day, Formula One is owned by venture capitalists and one would suspect that they can’t hold the sport in their funds ad infinitum,” McLaren’s team principal and FOTA chairman, Martin Whitmarsh, told the Independent.
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