Sport doesn’t operate in a vacuum, not even Formula One, one of the most glamorous activities in the world.
Not only has the industry struggled with the Arab Spring and the effect that has had on the domestic situation in Bahrain. The 2011 Grand Prix was cancelled in that country amid political and sectarian unrest, and many think that the 2012 edition should also not have gone ahead.
The poor state of the global economy, meanwhile, has also caused Formula One’s planned $2.5 billion public offering on the Singapore Stock Exchange to be delayed. Global stocks have been struggling, not least because of the ongoing problems in the Eurozone, and the Singapore stock market fell by almost seven percent last month.
A preliminary prospectus had been due for launch on June 5, but it’s now unclear when the deal will go ahead.
“We haven’t got a date set yet, but with all the problems in the eurozone and the markets, we will be waiting until things have settled a little,” Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone told The Guardian.
The Englishman said that the decision by Graff Diamonds to postpone something similar in Hong Kong confirmed that the sport was making the right decision.
“Who would want to try and list now? I did see what Graff did, and it shows now isn’t the right time.”
“This year, for sure, we are going to go through to market. I don't think there’s a big rush, but we plan to get it done by the end of the year,” he said. “We’ll wait until October or November when the Formula One season is over because at the moment we just don’t have time to do an investor road show.”
English football club Manchester United also had a plan to launch an IPO in Singapore last year, but the club has still yet to do so.