UK - LDC races to 15th investment of 2009

Manor Grand Prix is led by car designer WR Technology and Manor Motorsport, a motor racing team founded in 1990 by former single-seater world champion John Booth. Throughout its history, the team has competed in Formula Ford, Formula Renault and Formula 3, achieving 170 race wins. The company has a race operations facility in Dinnington.

The team will reportedly compete in the new Formula One championship under the name Virgin Racing, having tied up a sponsorship deal with Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which last year sponsored world champions Brawn GP.

LDC expects the company to generate strong revenues in a sport that it hopes will become increasingly viable in the future, primarily as a result of the Resource Restriction Agreement introduced by Formula One's governing body, the FIA, in August this year. The agreement aims to return costs to the levels that prevailed in the early 90's by introducing budget caps, without which Booth has been quoted as saying his team would not have joined.

Total revenue for the sport last year was estimated at £3bn.

According to unquote" proprietary database, this is LDC's 15th deal of the year. The firm has remained on top of its game in 2009, having completed the largest volume of transactions of any private equity house this year with a total enterprise value in excess of £500m.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Expansion
• UK / Ireland