Alpine F1, or more specifically parent company Renault, have announced that Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, and Maximum Effort Investments are part of a €200 million investment deal to acquire 24% of the racing team. After this large cash injection, the team has an implied valuation of €800 million.
Who are these investors? Maximum Effort has been dominating the headlines due to the involvement of Ryan Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star and co-creator, Rob McElhenney. The pair are responsible for the £2 million purchase of Wrexham AFC, in which their custodianship led to the team’s return to the English Football League after having been relegated to the National League for years.
RedBird is also an American investment firm that has $7.5 billion USD of equity across various markets including sports, media, technology, telecommunications, and consumer and financial services. RedBird is run by Goldman Sachs banker, Gerry Cardinale, and is a key investor in the Fenway Sports Group which owns both Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox.
Otro Capital is a big player in sports. The American firm has interests in the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, and several efforts in the Indian cricket scene.
Otro Capital co-founder, Alec Scheiner, spoke at the presentation hosted at Alpine’s F1 base in Enstone and explained why investors are choosing Alpine.
“We’ve invested across various countries in the world across almost every single sport,” said Scheiner.
“We’ve partnered with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, the NFL, the NFL Players Association. We’ve invested in football, invested in basketball, hockey, and cricket in India. So for us when we look at sports and investing, we look at three things.
“Number one is are they a valuable intellectual property? Number two, can we provide value to the investment we bring? And number three, do we have like-minded partners?
“We think about those things and Alpine check every single box.”
Alpine CEO, Laurent Rossi, believes that this is an important step to “enhance our performance at all levels.”
“Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, as international players with a strong track record in the sports industry, will bring their recognised expertise to boost our media and marketing strategy, essential to support our sporting performance over the long term.”
As Williams team principal, James Vowles, explained, F1 teams need a lot of money to simply exist, and even more to win. This cash injection is good news for Alpine as it allows them greater flexibility in all aspects of development as well as opening up options for new hires and technology.
