The announcement that Daimler, and their investment partner Aabar Investments, would buy the Brawn GP team came on the 75th anniversary of the introduction of the Silver Arrows Mercedes F1 car to Formula 1 in 1935.
It was also announced that McLaren would buy back their stock currently held by Daimler. But, what are the financial details of these transactions?
Apparently Daimler and their investment partner Aabar Investments PJSC are paying about $184 million USD for their 75.1% stake in Brawn GP. This is according to Aabar Chairman Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubbaisi. He was quoted on Bloomberg.com (http://www.bloomberg.com).
On the other hand F1 Technical (http://www.f1technical.net/news/13784) reports that McLaren is expected to pay about $299 million USD for the Mercedes shares of McLaren. That leaves Mercedes about a hundred million ahead in this transaction. The delta is expected to be closed by Mercedes supplying engines for free for 6 years. That would mean the engine supply deal is worth about $19 million USD perseason. But, there is also a rumour that merc with supplement driver salaries for a year or two.
If all of this is true, it means that Daimler got a pretty good deal, but so did Macca. It remains to be seen how much McLaren actually gains by selling the Merc 40% share to other investors.
Let the games begin!
It sounds like a good deal for both companies. And I'm sure Merc didn't pay $299m for their shares in McLaren in the first place so they have definitely gained here. If the rumours about Raikkonen being chased by Mercedes are true, then this profit could help fund the move
Posted by: Paul_Murtagh | November 19, 2009 at 01:34 AM