No voting rights & must keep shares for 10 years - some deal.
F1 teams received an offer to purchase F1 stock at a price 30% below market value. Interesting surely?
Teams have not taken Liberty up on their offer, and have shown little interest. It seems the devil is in the detail:
.The percentage of team ownership could have been as high as 20%,
but no team could own more then 5%.
.Teams have to hold on to their shares for 10 years.
.Only the 2 largest shareholding teams would get a seat on the board
.No voting rights - they stay with Liberty
In racing, 10 years is a long time, and teams would only have observers on the board. Teams would have little to no impact on the direction F1 will be taking. The lack of influence is painstakingly obvious.
This deal seems geared to lessen the financial impact the take-over will have on Liberty. They would still be in full control, but pay 15% less: a financial move. There's also the bonus of helping lock teams into F1 for a good length of time.
Liberty has set a deadline for the teams to make a final decision before the end of January. No teams have taken up their generous offer at the present time - wonder why!
Detail of the share offer deal courtesy El Jefe Maximo a contributor to thejudge13.com.