UPDATE: CVC Adds Morgan Stanley, UBS As Bankers On Over US$2.5 Billion Formula One Singapore IPO - Sources
25 Aprile 2012 - 6:12AM
Dow Jones News
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has mandated UBS AG
(UBS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) as lead bankers to join Goldman Sachs
Group Inc (GS) on the more than US$2.5 billion initial public
offering in Singapore of its Formula One Group motorsport
franchise, people familiar with the transaction said Wednesday.
The IPO, in which UBS, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman, will be
joint global coordinators, is slated for the second quarter of the
year, the people said, and is set to be the biggest float in the
city since Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing raised US$5.5 billion from
listing his port operator Hutchison Port Holdings Trust in March
last year.
Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd. (D05.SG), Malaysia's CIMB
Group Holdings Bhd (1023.KU), and Spain's Banco Santander S.A.
(STD) will also be on the IPO as joint bookrunners, one of the
people said.
Singapore was picked as the venue for the listing, over other
Asian counterparts such as Hong Kong, because the city-state has
been hosting Grand Prix racing since 2008 and is a home to a strong
fan base for the sport, according to the people.
The listing of the Formula One franchiese comes at a time when
CVC is looking to cash in on past investments amid equity markets
that have stabilized after a turbulent 2011. The private equity
firm recently said that two of its German portfolio
companies--chemicals maker Evonik and Flint Group, the world's
second-biggest maker of printing ink by sales--could list on the
German stock exchange this year or next.
Singapore, traditionally a hub for both domestic and overseas
property and business trusts and commodities-focused listings, has
in recent years been pushing to attract high profile international
brands to its bourse--the Singapore Exchange, following rival Hong
Kong, whose foreign listings last year include that by Italian
luxury house Prada SpA (1913.HK), which raised US$2.5 billion, and
the US$10 billion IPO of Swiss commodities trader Glencore
International, which also listed in London at the same time.
Among foreign brand contenders for a Singapore listing have been
English Premier League football club Manchester United and health
center Fitness First, but both delayed their planned IPOs scheduled
for late last year amid the uncertainty around the eurozone debt
crisis that had made markets volatile, people familiar with the
situation said earlier. Manchester United, which like Formula One,
has a strong following in Southeast Asia, had been looking to raise
US$1 billion from its IPO, while private equity owned Fitness First
had been seeking US$500 million.
These people say that with equities market now on the mend,
these firms may once again revive their IPO plans this year.
CVC has owned 63% of SLEC Holdings, Formula One's holding
company, since 2006. The private equity firm wasn't immediately
available for comment.
-By P.R. Venkat, Dow Jones Newswires; +65-6415-4157;
venkat.pr@dowjones.com
Sam Holmes contributed to this article.