By Amy Or
NEW YORK--Private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners said it has
sold a $500 million stake in Formula One Group to Waddell &
Reed Financial Inc. (WDR) and invested in Hong Kong-listed Chinese
shoe company C.banner International Holdings Ltd. (1028.HK).
In the Formula One transaction, the stake, sold in a private
placement, valued the motor-sport franchise at an enterprise value
of $9.1 billion, the firm said in a statement issued Friday.
The deal, which increased Waddell & Reed Financial's stake
to 20.9%, came as choppy markets hit equity fundraising and led to
a delay in Formula One's planned $2.5 billion initial public
offering in Singapore. Bankers on the IPO had planned for a
mid-June listing but may consider reviving the deal later this
year, people familiar with the situation said last week.
Waddell & Reed Financial was part of an institutional
investor group that invested $1.6 billion for an aggregate 21% in
Formula One last month. The other two investors were Norway's
sovereign-wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, and the
world's largest money manager, BlackRock Inc. (BLK).
CVC's holding in Formula One fell to about 35.5% from 63% before
the two recent deals.
Separately, CVC invested in C.banner along with China Consumer
Capital Partners Ltd. and MouseeDragon LP, and has also nominated a
partner with its Asian-Pacific unit, Ho Chi Kit, to the shoe
maker's board.
In a regulatory filing, C.banner said CVC bought 138.6 million
yuan ($21.8 million) worth of convertible bonds and 294.5 million
Hong Kong dollars ($38.0 million) in exchangeable bonds. The firm
said in a separate release that it also invested in C.banner
through secondary shares, but didn't specify the amount.
"C.banner is a leading player in the fast-growing ladies'
footwear market in China with a strong and stable management team,"
said Francis Leung, CVC's Greater China chairman and managing
partner.
C.banner is the second-largest shoe company in the
mid-to-premium women's footwear market in China with a 7.4% market
share.
CVC, which has raised $44 billion in funds, said it has
identified a number of value-creation initiatives to further
improve C.banner's business and will work closely with management
to execute the business plan.
CVC owns more than 60 companies world-wide, which generate more
than $127 billion in revenue, it said.
Write to Amy Or at amy.or@dowjones.com