F1 News: Sale values Aston Martin team at whopping $1.2 billion

(GMM) Formula 1 team Aston Martin has been valued at a whopping $1.2 billion.

The valuation, made by financial media company Bloomberg, comes after Lawrence Stroll sold a minority stake in the Silverstone based team to Arctos Partners – an American private equity firm.

“The investment values the F1 team at about 1 billion pounds, or $1.2 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal,” correspondent Jamie Nimmo said.

Billionaire Stroll, whose son Lance races for the team, said of Arctos: “They share our vision for our ultra-luxury brand, and they are extremely passionate about the sport and its prospects.”

The Canadian admitted recently to holding “conversations” with potential buyers.

“Formula 1 teams have appreciated in value significantly over the last few years due to the popularity of the sport, due to cost caps,” Stroll said.

However, he insisted the deal isn’t because Aston Martin is running out of money.

“Let me make it very clear, the team does not require money, we are profitable,” said Stroll.

Referring to Arctos’ existing investments in other sports teams including the Red Sox and Liverpool FC, he told Bloomberg: “My commercial team came to me and said we really feel there’s some great synergies, there’s some great commercial opportunities by working with these 30 teams, particularly with the focus in the US and the growth in the US.”

F1 owner Liberty Media’s CEO Greg Maffei agreed that the ten grand prix teams really are worth around a billion dollars each.

“Liberty has been involved with F1 for about seven years now and literally when we started the bottom team got sold for one pound,” he said.

“Now, the bottom teams are worth close to a billion dollars, maybe $750 million, and the top teams are probably worth $3 billion.”