Formula One Group set for $2.5bn public listing in Singapore

FORMULA One Group has received the go-ahead from the Singapore Exchange for a US$2.5 billion ($2.52bn) IPO, sources say.

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FORMULA One Group, the motor racing franchise owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd., has received the go-ahead from the Singapore Exchange for a US$2.5 billion ($2.52bn) initial public offering ahead of a listing next month, people familiar with the situation say.

In what could be the city-state's first high profile overseas listing in more than a year, Formula One is set to begin a pre-marketing process "very soon", the people said, with order-taking in international roadshows slated for the second week of June, and listing scheduled for the last week of that month.

CVC has held a majority stake in Formula One's holding company since 2006, and will sell down part of its stake, the people said. People familiar with the transaction said earlier that CVC is already in talks with possible cornerstone investors, a process that offers security to bankers selling the deal because these investors subscribe to a fixed portion of the IPO ahead of the public offer to retail and institutional investors.

If successful, the IPO will be Singapore's biggest so far this year, and comes as Singapore vies with Hong Kong to attract foreign listings and lift its stock exchange's profile. In March last year, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing raised US$5.5bn from listing his port operator Hutchison Port Holdings Trust in Singapore.

Singapore was picked as the venue for the planned Formula One IPO, because of it has been hosting Grand Prix racing since 2008 and is home to a strong fan base for the sport, the people said.

CVC holds 63 per cent of SLEC Holdings, Formula One's holding company.

The lead bankers on the deal are Goldman Sachs, UBS AG, and Morgan Stanley. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. and DBS Group Holdings and are also advising CVC on the deal.

Formula One is making plans to tap Singapore's market at a time when home-grown companies, too, are making that foray. Ascendas Group, a property manager and developer, owned by JTC Corp., a Singapore government industrial infrastructure planning agency, also received Singapore Exchange approval to list its hospitality assets, such as the hotels in Australia and Japan. It's planning to raise US$500 million from listing those assets via a hospitality real estate investment trust by early-to-mid-June, the people said.

The Singapore Exchange declined to comment on listing approval for these companies. Another listing planned for Singapore in either June or July is a US$557 million-US$636 million yuan-denominated IPO of ARA Asset Management Ltd. (D1R.SG), an affiliate of Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. (0001.HK). The ARA yuan IPO will be the first denominated in the Chinese currency outside China after Li also raised $1.6 billion from listing the Hui Xian REIT (8700.HK) last year.