Mark Walter LA Lakers sale: what it could mean for Cadillac F1 team
Billionaire Mark Walter's sale of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA franchise - announced just 14 months after purchasing it for $10billion - could have implications on the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
Walter is the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, an investment company that co-owns Premier League team Chelsea via BlueCo, as well as numerous LA-based sports teams including the LA Dodgers baseball team.
He is also the CEO and co-chairman of TWG Global, which owns a majority stake in the Cadillac F1 Team through TWG Motorsports alongside IndyCar and Formula E team Andretti Global and other motorsport entities.
Companies tied to Walter are under investigation by the US government and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a wide-ranging probe that concerns four companies within his investment empire and alleged undisclosed loans between them.
What does LA Lakers sale have to do with Cadillac?
Walter is offloading his majority stake in the LA Lakers just 14 months after he agreed to buy the prestigious basketball franchise.
The Athletic has reported that Walter's controlling stake in the LA Lakers was valued at $12.5bn, whereas he purchased it for a reported $10bn.
The move stunned the National Basketball Association as the LA Lakers was at least partially owned by Jerry Buss and his family for nearly 50 years.
Now Walter's stake has been sold to venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger.
The ownership of Chelsea FC has now hit headlines as Walter and co-owner Todd Boehly are reportedly in talks to sell their shares in the club to majority owner Clearlake Capital.
Discussions to sell Chelsea precede - but may have been accelerated by the aforementioned investigations.
Bloomberg has reported that Walter is selling off his stakes to raise money to pay loans on the books of his company's insurers amid the ongoing investigations.
Attention has inevitably turned towards the Cadillac F1 team, although there are no concrete reports of a potential sale of TWG Global's majority - and valuable - stake as yet.
One of the four intermediary companies being investigated is Bradford Allen, which is developing Cadillac F1's Indiana headquarters alongside Andretti Global's IndyCar facilities.
The investigations - which have not brought a charge - do not implicate Bradford Allen in any wrongdoing, nor has Cadillac F1 team been implicated in any way.
The recent sacking of Graeme Lowdon as Cadillac F1 team principal is also circumstantial at this point - and there is no implication that General Motors's ownership position on the F1 team has changed.
Given the sale of the LA Lakers was facilitated in a reported 72 hours, the situation is fluid and rapidly changing.
