Actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds are joining an investment group taking a significant stake into Formula 1 team Alpine Racing. The move comes just months after McElhenney and Reynolds’s success as owners of Welsh soccer club Wrexham.
Parent company Renault announced in a press release that Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partner and Maximum Effort Investments – which includes Reynolds, McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan – are getting a 24% equity stake, a deal worth approximately $218 million. Renault said the investment will “accelerate Alpine’s growth plans and sporting ambitions in F1,” and touted the investor group’s “collective expertise and track record in the sports industry” in its previous relationships with the Dallas Cowboys, the Fenway Group and Wrexham. Alpine is now valued around $900 million after the investment. The team currently ranks fifth in the Formula 1 constructor standings.
Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine, said in a statement that the “association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels — first, Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, as international players with strong track record in the sports industry, will bring their recognized expertise to boost our media and marketing strategy, essential to support our sporting performance over the long term; second, 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.”
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