Formula One's largest shareholder CVC Capital Partners is overseeing the sale of three per cent of the business, according to a report by Sky News' City Editor Mark Kleinman.The Teachers' Retirement System of Texas (TRS) will buy one-fifth of the shares still held by Lehman Brothers, which is in the process of selling off its remaining assets following its collapse in 2008, after reaching a preliminary agreement to pay US$200 million.The figure values Lehman Brothers' 15 per cent stake at some US$1 billion and the sport as a whole at something approaching US$7 billion.CVC is overseeing the transaction, further details of which will not be released publicly, as part of a clause in shareholder agreements which means it must give its consent for any sale of shares.

Earlier this year CVC, which owns 35 per cent of Formula One outright after selling off chunks of its stake in recent months, postponed plans to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Singapore. It is now thought any float will not take place until early next year. In preparation for the IPO, however, CVC, has been working behind the scenes, to restructure the financing of the sport, and publicly, moving Formula One into new markets and making a sustained effort to garner the long-term commitment of all 12 teams through a new multi-year commercial agreement.TRS is the largest public retirement system in Texas 'in both membership and assets' according to its website, with net assets totalling approximately US$101 billion.Coincidentally, Formula One is only weeks away from its first race in Texas at the new purpose-built Circuit of the Americas facility in Austin, although plans for a second US event next year have been shelved after organisers of a proposed race on the streets of New Jersey encountered construction and financing delays.The event, to be known as the Grand Prix of America, is now likely to debut in 2014.

Source: Sports Pro