Certain third-party investors have agreed to invest $1.55 billion in Liberty Media Corp. in support of the company's deal to acquire motor-racing firm Formula One.

The company said Dec. 14 that Coatue Management LLC, the D. E. Shaw group, JANA Partners LLC, Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., Soroban Capital Partners LP, SPO Advisory Corp., and Viking Global Investors LP will commit $1.55 billion in subscriptions for newly issued shares of its Series C Liberty Media common stock at $25 per share.

The issuance of the shares to the third-party investors will be consummated concurrently with the completion of the Formula 1 deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. The proceeds from the investment will be used to increase the cash portion of the aggregate consideration payable to the consortium of selling Formula 1 shareholders led by CVC Capital Partners.

Also, the number of Liberty Media shares issuable to the selling shareholders at the closing of the deal will be reduced to about 76 million from about 138 million. The total number of shares to be issued by Liberty Media in connection with the acquisition, to both the selling shareholders and the third-party investors, remains unchanged at about 138 million shares. Both the third-party investors and the selling shareholders will be subject to certain lock-up restrictions for a period of six months following the completion of the Formula 1 acquisition.

The interest in Formula 1 already acquired by Liberty Media, and the remaining stake to be acquired, is being attributed to the Liberty Media Group tracking stock. Upon completion of the deal, subject to stockholder approval, the Liberty Media Group will be renamed as the Formula One Group and the ticker symbols for the Series A, Series B and Series C Liberty Media common stocks will be changed to FWON (A/B/K), respectively, from LMC (A/B/K), respectively.

After the transactions close, the investors will own roughly 26% of the Formula One Group's equity, while the selling shareholders will own about 39% of the Formula One Group's equity and will have board representation at Formula 1. A CVC representative will also be part of the Liberty Media board.