A group of investors including Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds has bought almost a quarter of the Alpine Formula 1 team in a bid to speed up its journey to the top of the constructors championship.
The Investor Group has bought a 24 per cent stake in the team for €200 million (A$326.5 million), valuing the business at approximately $1.36 billion.
Alpine hopes the injection of funds will help it to take a step forward in the F1 pecking order.
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The Investor Group comprises investment companies Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, the last of which is headed by Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B Jordan.
Reynolds and McElhenney’s most notable sporting investment is in Welsh football club Wrexham, the story of which is told in popular documentary series Welcome to Wrexham.
Wrexham returned to the English Football League for the first time in 15 years under their stewardship earlier this year.
RedBird’s investments include Fenway Sports Group, which owns both the Boston Red Sox baseball team and Liverpool FC.
The American investment firm also owns controlling stakes in France’s Toulouse FC and Italy’s AC Milan, which it bought late last year for A$1.96 billion.
Alpine said in a statement that it would benefit from imported expertise in “media, sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality, commercial rights management, licensing and merchandising strategies” in maximising the value of being involved in Formula 1 as the sport enjoys an enormous boom in interest and as teams experience a surge in value.
“This association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels,” Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi said.
“Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, as international players with 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.”
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Rossi said he also hoped the additional investment would bring a performance benefit to the track.
“The incremental revenue generated will in turn be reinvested in the team in order to further accelerate our ‘mountain climber’ plan, aimed at catching up with top teams in terms of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment,” he said.
Alpine’s ‘mountain climber’ plan is a blueprint to return the team to title contention after 100 races, or by the 2026 season.
Alec Scheiner, the Otro Capital partner who will take a place on the Alpine board of directors, said he had faith in the team’s strategy to return to competitiveness.
“We believe in the management of the company, the value of the brand as well as the long-term trajectory of the sport,” he said, “We believe that, along with our partners RedBird and Maximum Effort Investments, we can add value to Alpine‘s business operations and brand building, especially in North America.”
Alpine is fifth in the constructors championship, down from fourth last season, and 78 points behind next-best team Ferrari.
The French constructor is 277 points behind championship leader Red Bull Racing.
The balance of the team’s ownership remains with Alpine, which is owned by the Renault Group.
Alpine’s engine division, which is based in France, is not part of the sale and remains wholly owned by Renault.
