Namir H. Kaissi’s Post

🏁 Abu Dhabi x McLaren: A Partnership Fueled by Passion for Motorsports 🚗💨 The landmark collaboration between CYVN Holdings in Abu Dhabi and McLaren represents more than just a business deal—it's a celebration of motorsports and its ability to drive progress, innovation, and unity. Here's what this partnership means for the UAE: 🏎️ Advancing Motorsports Excellence This deal solidifies the UAE's role as a global hub for motorsports, fueling innovation and expanding the boundaries of what's possible on and off the track. 📈 Economic Impact Strategic investments from CYVN Holdings contribute to the UAE's diversified economy, bringing growth and global recognition to its booming automotive and sports industries. 💼💸 💡 Inspiring Innovation Motorsports isn't just about speed—it's a platform for developing cutting-edge technologies that influence industries far beyond the racetrack. This partnership will empower McLaren to continue pushing limits and creating advancements that benefit the world. 🚀 🌍 Uniting Communities Motorsports has the power to bring people together, and this collaboration reinforces Abu Dhabi's commitment to fostering global connections and cultural exchange through sport. 🤝🏁 This is more than a deal—it's a statement of the UAE's dedication to passion, progress, and driving into the future at full throttle. 🚗💨 #Motorsports #Innovation #AbuDhabi #McLaren #GlobalLeadership #RacingIntoTheFuture

Mumtalakat the SWF of Bahrain completes a full takeover of Mclaren Group which owns the majority shares in the flamboyant Mclaren F1 team. The Story: 📌 McLaren Group announced that Bahrain's Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company ("Mumtalakat") took full ownership of share capital after converting preference shares to ordinary shares. 📌 AUDI AG was another contender for a new infusion in #Mclaren Group that dropped its plans and saw Mercedes-Benz AG turning long-term engine supplier 📌 Mclaren is delighted to have strengthened its longstanding relationship with Mumtalakat Holding Company, the #sovereignwealthfund of #Bahrain that will bring in better governance and focus on delivering long-term business plans, including investment in new products and technologies 📌 #McLarenRacing CEO Zak Brown extended its contract until 2030 which talks about the long-term vision in F1 The Backstory 📌 Mumtalakat acquired a 30% stake in McLaren from former chairman Ron Dennis and the late Mansour Ojjeh in 2007 and has been a key partner since. 📌 The #supercar maker was long under the clutches of financial instability especially during COVID-19 when it took out a £150million loan with the National Bank of Bahrain, sold a stake in its #F1 team, and worked on a sale and leaseback deal of its renowned Technology Centre factory to further cut down a 1000 jobs. This was also possible due to the new budget cap regulations from F1 to reduce the spending by each team and bring in parity. The Positives: 📌 The Bahrain International Circuit was the first one in the #MiddleEast to host a Grandprix in April 2004 paving the way for other #MiddleEastern countries to follow suit. 📌 Apart from #Bahrain, the Middle East also hosts a bunch of races with #Qatar, #SaudiArabia, #Abudhabi in #UAE and #Azerbaijan (Blurry Lines on inclusion) in an attempt to push #tourism and diversify from oil dependency. 📌 The move will also see other #SovereignWealthFunds jumping in with similar deals given the plush purse they garner as #SWFs. The Negatives: 📌 The races in the Middle East have long been under the scanner on account of human rights activists calling out Liberty Media as an opportunist paying no attention to criticism but only money. About Formula1: 📌 Liberty Media purchased Formula 1 from CVC Capital Partners at $8 Billion of enterprise value in 2016. CVC bought the #sport for $1.7 Billion in 2006 and managed to grow it fourfold in a decade 📌 Their partnership with Netflix on introducing #drivetosurvive had brought them and newer and younger fanbase cutting down the stagnation in growth. 📌 CVC also owns the Gujarat Titans franchise in the Indian Premier League India. I am Faraz Wadhwania, I write about #startups, #vcfunding, #investments #fundraising, #venturecapital, #privateequity,#familyoffice etc. React/Share + Follow + Send Connection Request + 🔔 Note: The image is from BIKC with the McLaren-Mercedes F1 Car during my last visit.

McLaren Group needed a lifeline, and they just got one... #playbookmiddleeast Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company ("Mumtalakat"), the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, has taken over the McLaren Group after growing its stake from 30% to 60% since 2007. This includes: - complete ownership of McLaren Group  - a majority stake in Mclaren Racing, which competes in Formula 1, the US IndyCar series, and the electric series Formula E and Extreme E The acquisition brings financial stability to McLaren, which has faced challenges, including economic difficulties and staff layoffs in recent years. It made a pre-tax loss of £276m in the first 9 months of last year. So what does the future look like? The deal allows the company to focus on its long-term business plan, invest in new products and technologies, and explore potential technical partnerships to create an electric vehicle offering. Manufacturers they’re speaking to include Hyundai, BMW, and Lucid Motors. For more news and analysis on the emerging sports economies of Africa and the Middle East, check out Playbook - Sports Business for Emerging Markets. __________ Photo: McLaren Racing #linkedinsports  #sportsbusiness  #motorsports #mclaren #formula1

The 2024 calendar's curtain drop with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix may be the last one for current Formula 1 owner Liberty Media. Saudi Arabia is looking to price Formula 1 at $20 Billion. Liberty Media purchased Formula 1 from CVC in 2016 for $8 billion of enterprise value, which it had bought for $1.7 billion in 2006 and grew fourfold in a decade. In my last week's post, I brought that up as a question as to how Saudi Arabia or UAE would react to Qatar Investment Authority picking a 30% stake in the Audi F1 Project. 🔗 Read More here: https://lnkd.in/dJvgKWyx? Bahrain's #SovereignWealthFund Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company ("Mumtalakat") owns McLaren Group including the racing arm. 🔗 Read More here: https://lnkd.in/dwAPceXm? F1 and #SaudiArabia: 🏎️ A title sponsorship deal between aramco and Aston Martin F1 Team until 2028 along with a 20% stake in the team. 🏎️ Global partnership deal between #aramco and F1. 🏎️ Qiddiya | القدية F1 circuit near Riyadh to be developed at an expense of $500 Million will end up as the longest and fastest circuit on the calendar. 🏎️ The season opener of the F1 Academy all-women's race series was held in Jeddah. 🏎️ Best F1 event in the region award to stc Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. The Bottomline: 🏎️ Saudi Arabia is trying to turn itself into the 'Sports Capital of the World' and leaving no stone unturned for its mega plan of Saudi Vision 2030. 🔗 Saudi Arabia investing heavily in sports: https://lnkd.in/diFQzGBm 🏎️ The valuation of $20 Billion may not be enough for an entire buyout given how popular the sport has turned out after the partnership with Netflix for the show Drive to Service. 🏎️ Saudi Arabia is known to throw capital at the problems but their best shot would be picking a majority stake in F1 while letting a minority one with Liberty media and let them run the show. 🏎️ The investment may not be directly from Saudi Arabia but the asset would be held either by Public Investment Fund (PIF) or Aramco. 🏎️ Saudi Arabia last hinted at investing ~$5 Billion in the Indian Premier League India valuing it at $30 Billion and recently hosted #IPL Auction in Jeddah. Related Posts: 🔗 SA emulating #UAE playbook: https://lnkd.in/de9ERQh9 🔗 Major Global SWFs: https://lnkd.in/drZ9tvGr? I am Faraz Wadhwania, I write about #MiddleEast once a week usually on Sunday Info Source: Bloomberg News

MotoGP™ receive an ‘outpouring’ amount of interest since Liberty Media’s $4.5bn takeover. Last month, the company officially announced it will purchase 86% of Dorna Sports, the commercial entity overseeing MotoGP, in a deal valued at $4.53bn. Dorna will remain independently run with Carmelo Espeleta staying as chief executive. greg maffei, Liberty Media chief executive, said whilst speaking to investors there had been an increase in interest from potential partners including manufacturers. Currently there are five present manufacturers in MotoGP and now BMW Group are beginning to showcase their interest. Maffei said, “Unfortunately, due to the nature of the regulatory process, we will be formulating those amongst ourselves and our plans. But we really can’t reach out and do anything concrete with the MotoGP management team to avoid gun jumping until we have regulatory approval.” MotoGP also recently announced that Qatar Airways will be the official airline partner which is part of a three-year deal. This deal provides passenger and cargo services, which includes chartered flights for staff, commercial tickets and freight services which prioritise using news boxes to improves the series’ efficiency. #business #partnerships #sponsorships #motogp #qatarairways #liberymedia #interest #dorna #dornasports #bmw #motorsport

Formula 1 team valuations have been released by Sportico for 2024. 🏆🏎️ 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝟏 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 Earlier this year, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown declared that every Formula 1 was worth “well north” of £1 billion ($1.3 billion). Speaking at a Bloomberg event in Saudi Arabia, he underlined the impact that Liberty Media had had on the sport since its $8 billion takeover in 2016. In 2023, Sportico estimated that the 10 teams were worth a cumulative $15.3 billion: ➡️ Scuderia Ferrari was valued at $3.13 billion followed by Mercedes ($2.7 billion) and Red Bull ($2.42 billion) ➡️ Haas F1 Racing was valued at $710 million 2024 valuations show a +44% increase compared to June 2023: ➡️ F1 teams worth $2.31 billion on average ➡️ Scuderia Ferrari valued at $4.78 billion ➡️ 6.1x average EV/revenue multiple (vs. 5.1x in 2023) - compared to 10.2x in Major League Soccer, 8.9x in the National Basketball Association (NBA), 7.6x in the National Football League (NFL), and 6.5x in Major League Baseball (MLB) 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘 We've been seeing increased institutional investment activity in F1 teams over the past few years: Between 2020 and 2023, 3 Formula 1 teams welcomed new investors in their capitalization structure: 👉 Williams Racing & Dorilton (US private equity firm) 👉 McLaren Racing & MSP Sports Capital (US private equity firm) 👉 A consortium of investors including Otro Capital (formed RedBird sports team) acquired a 24% stake in Alpine Formula One Team in June 2023 at a reported €900 million valuation 👉 Aston Martin F1 Team sold a minority stake to Arctos in November 2023 (reported EV of £1 billion) 👉 Two months ago, HPS Investment Partners, LLC, a US investment firm, and Accel, one of the most prominent venture capital firms, acquired another minority stake (20% to 25%) in Aston Martin F1 Team These deals are also motivated by increased profitability of F1 teams. Zak Brown last year: “Half the grid is profitable [...] and they weren’t five years ago." “We were losing over £100 million a year with no ability to get back to the front because someone was always prepared to outspend you with no budget cap.” A bit of self-promotion if this topic sounds interesting, I had the opportunity to write a a chapter in Hans Erik Næss and Professor Simon Chadwick's book "The Future of Motorsports" last year to explain how institutional investments in motorsports started with 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 ownership through CVC's investments in Dorna Sports then Formula 1, with Bridgepoint and Liberty Media joining the race as well, before opening to to 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 ownership as well. 🏁

This IWD we are spotlighting Saudi Arabian driver Reem Al Aboud, who recently set a new benchmark for acceleration in a FIA single-seater - 60mph/100kph in 2.49 seconds. Reem, who was only able to legally drive for the first time in 2018, is a supporter of Formula E’s Girls on Track and evidence of how the Championship is driving change in the region and beyond. The current F1 car set-up achieves 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds. The time is the fastest ever acceleration achieved as a female racer in an FIA formula/single-seater car.

🏎 Scuderia Ferrari moved quickly in announcing the replacement of Santander with UniCredit, but another commercial team in Formula 1 has been moving quickly too, taking full advantage of the change in driver line-up and how it coincides with the remainder of the season. 🇦🇷 Williams Racing announced that Argentine Franco Colapinto would replace Logan Sergeant with immediate effect last Tuesday ahead of the Italian Grand Prix. 🇲🇽 🇧🇷 By Thursday, Williams announced Globant, an IT & Software development company founded in Argentina, would partner with the team. On Friday Williams then announced that Argentine online market place Mercado Libre would also be joining the teams partnership ecosystem, with a focus on activations at the latter Latin America races this season in Mexico and Brazil. Colapinto had a partnership in place with Globant ahead of his full-time drive at Williams, so the swift nature of the announcement does suggest that Globant investment was part of Colapinto’s agreement with Williams, which is pretty common in #F1. However, the Mercado Libre deal does seem like Williams maximizing the announcement and new line-up. 🇪🇸 Williams may no longer be signing drivers on their commercial attraction, but they are rightly taking full advantage of the commercial opportunity drivers bring. Maybe we will see Santander partner with Williams and Carlos Sainz despite James Vowles brushing off the suggestion… #SportPartnerships #SportBusiness #Motorsport https://lnkd.in/eNErRdRA

While Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team have almost 60 % of the 2020 partners on board also 2024 Aston Martin have 11 %. Mercedes have one of the most stable, small changes from year-to-year, partnership network in Formula 1. It is perhaps unfair to compare the Mercedes-AMG Petronas network with Aston Martin, simply because Aston Martin was Racing Point in 2020. But on the other hand it is interesting to know how much a partnership network changes when a privateer team becomes a works team. Sauber will probably face the same massive changes in the partnership network when Audi takes over. In the picture we see the Racing Point partnership network 2020 compared with the network 2024. Left from 2020 are: 👉 Pirelli is as a F1 tire supplier still with Aston Martin 👉 Canadian Bombardier has been with fellow Canadian since Stroll invested in Formula 1 👉 JCB, the UK manufacturer of construction equipment, is also still with Aston Martin. American Movil, Telcel, Claro and Infinitum, the Slim family companies, followed to Sergio Perez to RedBull Racing in 2021. BWT is with Alpine F1 and Ravenol with VISA CashApp RB F1 team.

Camac Tyres Returns Under Nova Motorsport Historic tyre brand Camac is back! Thanks to a €20 million investment from Nova Motorsport, the Santo Tirso factory in Portugal is being transformed into a cutting-edge production hub for motorsport and specialist tyres. With over 100 skilled jobs created and the reintroduction of the Camac Classic tyre range, Nova Motorsport is blending heritage with innovation to redefine premium tyre manufacturing. From advanced manufacturing processes to tailored solutions for motorsport, the future is bright for Camac, Avon, and Nova Motorsport brands. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e3MumT2N #CamacTyres #NovaMotorsport #MotorsportTyres #TyreInnovation #Portugal