Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McELhenney buy stakes into Alpine F1 team
This is their second investment in a sports franchise, they bought Wrexham football club in 2020 and with their investment, the club got promoted for the first time in 15 years.
Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are a member of a new investment group that is purchasing a 24% ownership position in the Alpine Formula One team. French automobile giant Renault is the team’s parent company.
Alec Scheiner, the co-founder and partner of Otro Capital, will join Alpine’s board of directors.
The British-based team will receive an investment of $218 million (€200 million) as part of the agreement, according to a statement from the organization. Alpine is now valued at $900 million, after the investment
The funding will “accelerate Alpine’s growth plans and sporting ambitions in F1,” the announcement reads.
Alpine, with a factory at Enstone, won Formula 1 constructors’ world championships in 2005 and 2006 when they competed as Renault’s works team and also as Benetton in 1995. Alpine is presently ranked fifth in the F1 constructors’ championship for this year.
Renault said Alpine Racing SAS, the French entity that makes the team’s power units in Viry-Chtillon, will remain entirely owned by the carmaker.
“This association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels,” said Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.
“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.
“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,” added Rossi.
Welsh soccer team Wrexham is co-owned by Reynolds and McElhenney. Wrexham has gained international attention after taking over the club in 2020.
The team earned a promotion to the Football League in April, ending a 15-year stint playing non-league football, in addition to a popular Disney+ documentary.
