Aabar sells stake in Mercedes Formula One team

Abu Dhabi: Aabar Investments PJSC agreed to sell its stake in Mercedes-Benz’s Formula One racing team to the luxury-car brand’s parent Daimler AG as the Abu Dhabi investor further cuts ties to the automaker.

Aabar will sell its holding in Mercedes Grand Prix Ltd. to Daimler UK Ltd. for an undisclosed sum, Aabar’s parent International Petroleum Investment Co. said on Monday in a statement. The deal is conditional on approval from German and Italian antitrust authorities.

The Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund unloaded its remaining voting stake in Daimler in October. Aabar had bought a 9 percent stake in the Stuttgart, Germany-based manufacturer in March 2009 after financial markets collapsed. As part of that partnership, Aabar acquired 40 percent of the Mercedes Formula One team.

Daimler last month scrapped a Mercedes profit target for the second time, citing the effects of the European debt crisis. The world’s third-largest luxury-car brand this year has fallen further behind Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi.