F1’s Liberty Sure MotoGP Deal Will Be Approved

Greg Maffei, the CEO of Formula 1 owner Liberty Media, is confident the group’s acquisition of MotoGP will go through.

Liberty’s intention to also buy the two-wheeled equivalent of F1 was announced way back in April, pending securing the financing and regulatory approval.

Maffei is now confident the deal will go through by the end of the year.

“We have secured all the necessary financing for our MotoGP acquisition project,” he is quoted as saying by Ouest-France newspaper, referring to the 86 percent purchase valued at over 4 billion euros.

However, many insiders think the much bigger hurdle of the approval of the European Commission, as F1’s previous owner CVC was banned in 2006 from owning both Formula 1 and MotoGP.

“We are making progress with the European Commission,” said Maffei, “which is the only remaining jurisdictional regulatory hurdle. We continue to hope for closure by the end of the year.”