Want to own a part of an F1 team? Anyone like you and me may be able to do that in the near future as Sir Frank Williams have announced that in the best interest of securing the future of the team and its 450 employees, he may list the team’s shares on the stock exchange.
“For some years I have been considering how to secure the long-term ownership of Williams such that it will remain true to the aims with which Patrick and I established the team back in 1977. My goal then was to race in Formula One as an independent Constructor. This was and is my great passion and I will race for as long as I continue to be blessed with good health. It is also my desire that the team is in good shape to go on racing long after I am gone,” said Sir Frank Williams in a statement issued by Williams F1.
To that end, it is prudent and necessary to plan for an ownership structure that will enable Williams to be an independent Constructor, owned and staffed by people committed to Formula One and to the sound business practices which have supported us over three decades. have concluded that the option which will best achieve this is to broaden our shareholder base with public shareholders, while having a stable core of long-term investors closely involved in the running of the team. This will ensure stability, good governance and will, I believe, enable us to attract and retain the best people and partners,” he added.
So far this is just an announcement that the team is considering this route and they may choose to take it, but nothing’s happened yet. The team shareholders are currently Sir Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Toto Wolff. Sometime in early 2010, there were rumours that they were trying to get Volkswagen to buy into the team. Sir Frank assured that regardless of whatever steps they take, he will remain the majority and controlling shareholder as well as the Team Principal.
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if u offer ur company on the stock exchange , it will be highly dependant on results , so in this case ,podiums or victories …..the better the results the more sought after the shares will be thus higher prices..
unless thy are soooo confident of their results in the coming seasons , then i think this is not a clever idea….
And then when you have big fund houses or investment banks buying chunks of your stock they might ask for board representation and that could screw up team’s direction.