Liberty Media’s $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe

The European Union looks set to probe Liberty Media’s purchase of the MotoGP world championship, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Liberty, which also owns Formula 1, announced in April that it planned to acquire an 86% stake of Dorna Sports, the company which has owned MotoGP since 1992.

In August, the American company said it was selling a $825 million stake in F1 to fund the purchase of MotoGP.

The deal was valued at 4.2 billion euros, with an equity value of 3.5 billion euros excluding Dorna’s 14% stake.

However, according to Bloomberg’s report, which cites sources familiar with the matter, the deal is facing an investigation by the European Union’s new antitrust chief Teresa Ribera.

Ribera, Spain’s deputy prime minister, moved into the role earlier this year, steering climate and antitrust policy in the EU.

Ribera is concerned about the impact the Liberty deal could have on broadcasting and streaming sectors if two major championships like Formula 1 and MotoGP are under the same company.

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Photo by: Gresini Racing

According to the report, EU officials are set to begin a so-called phase 2 of the probe by the deadline of 19 December.

The Liberty deal with Dorna had been widely expected to face a probe from the EU, which had already ordered F1’s previous owner CVC Media to sell MotoGP when it bought F1 in 2006.

Former Liberty CEO Greg Maffei had said in April that he was “very confident” the deal would get EU approval.

“We are very confident we will get this through regulators because we believe there is a broad market for sports and entertainment properties, of which both Formula 1 and MotoGP are only a small subset, and the market has continued to change from the time when the market was previously reviewed in a major way,” he said.

“We are going to not treat these as a bundle or try to bring them together in the market.”