Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co emerges as another partner for F1 bidders

Filed under: Motorsports, Earnings/Financials, Ferrari



Ferrari and its stakeholders and executives (past and present) seem hell-bent on gaining control of Formula One and all it's worth. First came the election of former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt to the head of the FIA, which governs Formula One. Then more recently came reports that Exor - the Agnelli family trust that effectively owns Ferrari - was part of the consortium led by News Corp looking to buy into the sport's commercial rights. Now further details have emerged adding the Mubadala Development Company as a member of the same consortium.

Mubadala is a company whose assets have recently been closely intertwined with those of Ferrari's. The company is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, where the Ferrari World theme park stands. Until recently, Mubadala also owned part of Ferrari itself, its logos featuring prominently on the team's cars and uniforms (as did Abu Dhabi's national airline Etihad, also owned by the royal family). But even since the shares were reacquired, Mubadala remains (alongside the Ferrari family) a large shareholder in Piaggio Aero, the aerospace company chaired by Pierro Ferrari (Enzo's son and vice-chairman of the namesake automaker) and whose planes, incidentally, the Scuderia flies from one grand prix to the next.

Of course, once again, none of this appears to be going anywhere since the current owner CVC doesn't appear eager to sell. But if it did, hypothetically speaking, Mubadala might be a more suitable candidate, much as CVC sold to the rights to the MotoGP bike series to Bridgepoint (another investment company) before acquiring Formula One.Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co emerges as another partner for F1 bidders originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 17 May 2011 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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