Orrick Advises FIA on $8 Billion Acquisition of Formula 1

January.27.2017

Orrick advised the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the world governing body of motor sports, in connection with Liberty Media’s acquisition of Delta Topco Limited, the parent company of Formula 1. Created by FIA in 1946, Formula 1 is the world’s most popular racing car series.

Liberty Media’s purchase of Formula 1 was composed of cash, NASDAQ-listed Series C shares of Liberty Media's tracking stock “LMCK”, and a debt instrument exchangeable into LMCK shares. The transaction price represents an enterprise value of $8 billion and an equity value of $4.4 billion, calculated at the time of the transaction announcement.

An Orrick multijurisdictional team led by Jean-Pierre Martel, with support from Etienne Boursican and Delphine Camboulives in Paris, Hilary Winter and Jinal Shah in London and Ahalya Sri Hildreth in San Francisco, assisted FIA in dealing with its regulatory duties, its approval of the transaction and in the sale of its stake in Delta Topco.

With the completion of the acquisition, Liberty Media will be renamed the Formula One Group. F1 has appointed Chase Carey, vice chairman of 21st Century Fox, as Chief Executive Officer, in addition to his existing role as Chairman, while Chairman Emeritus Bernie Ecclestone will serve as a resource to F1’s board.

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Jean-Pierre Martel Partner, International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Mergers & Acquisitions

Paris

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D:+33 1 5353 7500
E: [email protected]

Practice:

International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
Mergers & Acquisitions
Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution

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Jean-Pierre Martel Partner

Paris

He is called on by boards and management teams to advise on mergers, divestitures, corporate acquisitions and restructurings as well as litigations and arbitrations. He is the founding partner of the premier French boutique Rambaud Martel, which combined with Orrick’s global platform in 2006.

Jean-Pierre has recently had a hand in the most significant cross-border deals in the French market. His work includes advising the board of Alstom on the $17 billion sale of its power units to General Electric, counseling L’Oréal on buying back 8% of its own capital from Nestlé, associated with the sale of assets, advising Peugeot’s family on the restructuring of Peugeot SA’s capital which involved China’s Dongfeng Motor Group and the French state, the board of Club Méditerranée in the context of competing take-over bids from China’s Fosun Group and Italia’s Bonomi’s Group, the board of Areva in the financial restructuring of the company.

Chambers & Partners recognized Jean-Pierre as an “Individual Star” in Corporate/M&A, noting that he is a “seasoned and highly-respected M&A practitioner whose experience covers a wide range of transactional activities.

Jean-Pierre has also developed very substantial litigation and arbitration experience, being ranked Band 1 by Chambers in Dispute Resolution. Most notably, among his successes, the very high-profile Bernard Tapie Case where he has been assisting Consortium de Réalisation, the French government entity tasked with liquidating the assets of Crédit Lyonnais for the French State. Jean-Pierre won rulings from the Paris Court of Appeal in 2015 that withdrew initial arbitral awards that had required CDR to pay €404 million to Tapie’s liquidators and companies and sentenced them to repay CDR the full amount plus interests and costs. He has just succeeded in obtaining visible Court decisions which have released from any criminal liability charged persons with tax fraud.

Jean-Pierre also serves as an arbitrator in ad hoc, ICC and AFA arbitration proceedings.

He speaks and publishes regularly.

Jean-Pierre is the founder and a member of the board of the Institute for Brain and Spinal Cord Disorders - ICM, a state-approved foundation which is on its way to becoming the leading international research center in Europe in the Neurosciences.