Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, has held talks about buying a majority stake in the Cadillac Formula One team for more than £2bn as Mark Walter continues to sell off his sporting assets amid allegations of insurance fraud.
Cadillac entered F1 this year as a joint venture between General Motors and Walter’s TWG Global, which sold its controlling interest in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and a 13% stake in Chelsea this summer, and is also looking to sell Los Angeles Sparks, the WNBA team.
Walter is under investigation by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, over alleged fraud involving the management of funds at his insurance companies Delaware Life, Clear Spring, and EquiTrust. TWG has said “there has been no fraud”.
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The 66-year-old Walter is also the controlling owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and insists they will not be sold.
TWG has denied that a sale of Cadillac is imminent, but the Guardian has learned it has had talks with a number of interested parties including FSG, whose sporting investments also include majority stakes in the Boston Red Sox and the NHL team Pittsburgh Penguins.
A source with knowledge of FSG’s plans disclosed that it is looking at other sporting investments after selling 38% of Liverpool this summer to a consortium that includes the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, whose group has also secured the option to complete a full takeover at Anfield before August 2027.
A move by FSG to buy into Cadillac could have implications for its position at Liverpool, which is valued at £5.5bn after this summer’s partial sale, presenting it with the opportunity to make a huge profit after it paid £300m for the entire club in 2010.
FSG has a history of investing in motor sport through its 50% stake in the Nascar team RFK Racing, with the source adding that it has been attracted to F1 by the sport’s remarkable growth over the last decade, particularly in the US.
F1’s annual revenue has more than doubled to $4bn (£3bn) since it was bought by Liberty Media in 2017, and the value of its TV rights continues to increase.
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Sportico has previously reported that Walter values his Cadillac shareholding at about £2.24bn. The size of TWG’s and General Motors’ respective stakes has never been made public.
Cadillac are bottom of the constructors’ championship in their debut season and have yet to win a point.
FSG declined to comment on its investment plans.
