SUPERCARS officially has new owners.
Archer Capital has sold its majority shareholding in Supercars to a consortium known as Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises Ltd, or RACE.
“The new ownership group has operational experience and brings significant marketing clout to Supercars and is excited about aligning the major circuit racing categories in Australia,” read a statement from Archer, confirming the sale.
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The RACE consortium is headed by Melbourne entrepreneur Barclay Nettlefold, in league with the Australian Racing Group and international financial advisory firm Henslow.
Per the statement from Archer, the transition of its shares to RACE will be completed by the end of 2021.
In addition to the approximately 60 percent stake owned by Archer, RACE has also acquired the 35 percent share owned cumulatively by Supercars’ teams through the sale process.
“We set out to find a new majority shareholder that would be able to build on the work that Archer and the management team have done over the past five years,” Peter Wiggs, chairman of both Supercars and Archer Capital, said.
“The expertise that RACE has in sport, media, marketing and digital will enable just that.”
Listen to the first episode of the Castrol Motorsport News Podcast, where award-winning journalist Andrew van Leeuwen and V8 Sleuth’s Aaron Noonan analyse the sale, the announcement, and what comes next.
Thursday’s announcement comes at the end of several months of activity around the sale of Archer’s stake in the championship.
The private equity firm paid $190 million to become the majority owner of Supercars in 2011 but has looked at selling its stake on several occasions in recent years.
News broke in June that several groups had registered an interest in buying Archer’s controlling stake in Supercars.
One high-profile rival was a syndicate led by Boost Mobile chief Peter Adderton that included British Touring Car Championship boss Alan Gow, five-time MotoGP world champion Mick Doohan, Bathurst 1000 winner Paul Morris and SCT Logistics founder Peter Smith, which also picked up NRL rugby league club the Brisbane Broncos as the bidding process wore on.
The winning RACE consortium merged the bids of TLA Worldwide, the sports marketing company owned by global sports media and technology group TGI Sport, and the Australian Racing Group, which includes TCR Australia, S5000, Touring Car Masters and Trans Am among the portfolio of race categories that it runs.
“Supercars, with the support of Archer, has done an amazing job navigating the past two years,” Nettlefold said.
“The RACE Board and I look forward to combining our collective resources, heralding an exciting new era in the growth of a sport that all Australians love.”
The makeup of the RACE board has yet to be revealed, while the new owners are already engaged in planning for next year with Archer and current Supercars management.
