Media companies Liberty Global and Discovery Communications have made a joint approach to acquire a 49-per-cent stake in the Formula One motor-racing championship.
The companies have approached private equity group CVC Capital Partners, which has a stake of about 35 per cent in the championship and has full voting rights.
The deal could value F1 at more than £6.5bn (€7.8bn/$10.6bn) according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
US cable-television billionaire John Malone is the chairman of the Liberty Global and Liberty Media companies and sits on the board of Discovery. According to the Financial Times newspaper, he has entered preliminary discussions with CVC, but has not tabled a formal offer yet.
The newspaper added that CVC could sell its stake alongside the Lehman Brothers’ 12.3-per-cent shareholding, with the investment bank reportedly obliged to offload its stake before the end of June.
Last month, Discovery announced that it had accelerated a deal to acquire pan-regional sports broadcaster Eurosport nearly a year ahead of schedule. The agreement to increase Discovery’s stake in Eurosport from 20 per cent to 51 per cent is expected to close in the coming months following regulatory approvals.