LONDON — Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are joining Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners in an investor group taking a 24 percent equity stake in Alpine Racing, Renault Group’s Formula One team, Renault said in a statement.
The 200-million-euro ($218.10 million) deal values British-based Alpine Racing at around $900 million following the investment.
Alpine Racing, with a factory at Enstone in central England, won Formula One constructors’ world championships in 2005 and 2006 when they competed as Renault’s works team and also as Benetton in 1995. They finished fourth in the championship last year and are currently fifth after eight of 22 races.
Renault said Alpine Racing, the French entity that makes the team’s power units in Viry-Châtillon, will remain entirely owned by the automaker.
Renault CEO Luca de Meo is seeking to raise Alpine’s profile in his push to expand the sports car business and move toward electrification, and the F1 efforts are a key plank of his strategy. Investors are increasingly attracted to F1, whose popularity boomed in recent years.
After rebranding Renault’s F1 team as Alpine, de Meo is now developing a full line of models to follow, with the brand, best known for its A110 sports coupe, set to become fully electric as of 2026.
‘Deadpool’ star Reynolds leads Maximum Effort Investments with McElhenney, of American comedy series ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’, and fellow-actor Michael B. Jordan as co-investors.
Reynolds and McElhenney took over the Welsh soccer team Wrexham in November 2020, funding the club’s return to the English Football League as fifth-tier champions in April this year.
Their popular docu-series ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ has proved a big hit in North America, propelling the little-known club into the global spotlight.
Renault said Otro and RedBird’s investment included the participation of the Huntsman Family and Main Street Advisors.
Alec Scheiner, the co-founder and partner of Otro Capital, will join Alpine Racing’s board of directors.
U.S. investment firm RedBird, run by former Goldman Sachs banker Gerry Cardinale, is an investor in Fenway Sports Group, the owner of Premier League side Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
RedBird also has a controlling stake in French soccer club Toulouse and bought Italy’s AC Milan last August in a 1.2-billion-euro deal that also involved the owners of the New York Yankees baseball team.
Bloomberg contributed to this report