BRONCOS LINKED TO ADDERTON SUPERCARS BID
The Brisbane Broncos rugby league team is being linked with a rebooted bid by the ‘Adderton’ consortium to buy Supercars.
The consortium, which includes the Boost Mobile boss Peter Adderton, motorcycle racing hero Mick Doohan, Bathurst 1000 winner Paul Morris, BTCC supremo Alan Gow and Supercars REC holder Peter Smith, appeared to be out of the running as recently as mid-July.
But that ‘withdrawal’ is now being characterised as either an impetuous unilateral action by Adderton that’s since been countermanded by his colleagues or one of his typically brazen bluffs.
The consortium is understood to be in there pitching against the Skaife/TLA and Australian Racing Group to acquire at least Archer Capital’s majority stake (a little over 60 percent) in Supercars racing.
The Adderton consortium had stood out from other bidders originally because it wanted to buy out the teams (who own 35 percent) as well, and not just Archer.
It is understood Archer boss Peter Wiggs is pressing for the sale process to be wrapped up within weeks, perhaps in September and certainly well before the rescheduled Bathurst 1000 in November.
As previously reported by AUTO ACTION, a $60 million price tag is understood to have been put on the Archer share. The sale is being brokered by Miles Advisory, the business headed by former (Triple 8 & Tasman Motorsport) Supercars team owner Tim Miles.
The unusual ploy to woo in the Broncos is apparently being made to bolster the sports marketing credibility of the Adderton bid.
It’s also potentially significant that the Broncos are majority-owned by media giant News Corp, which also has a controlling stake in the primary broadcaster of Supercars, Fox Sports.
Intriguingly, Seven boss James Warburton is a Supercars shareholder, and also an ARG non-executive director.
AA understands the connection between the consortium and one of the most famous rugby league clubs on the planet has been facilitated by Paul Morris’ father Terry.
Terry Morris has a long-standing friendship and business relationship with Karl Morris (no relation), who is chairman of the Broncos.
It is understood the Broncos are yet to commit to being involved in the Supercars bid. Terry Morris also has no official involvement.
But he was a co-owner along with Adderton and Terry Morris in Australian Super Touring racing in the 1990s when it made a brief and ultimately failed bid to topple the dominance of Supercars in Australian racing.
He also backed his son’s venture in Supercars racing and team ownership.
Just how much impetus the involvement of the Broncos would give this bid is unclear. Some AA sources say it is out of the running, others that they are the front-runner or close to it.
AA is attempting to gain comment from the Broncos and will provide any updates at autoaction.com.au if successful.
Meanwhile, the Skaife/TLA and ARG bids continue to press their case.
A variety of sources insist these two groups have the inside running to get the nod from Archer, which is keen to close the capital fund in which Supercars is retained by selling off the business.
Other mooted contenders; IMG, the France family, and the Peregrine Group are all thought to be out of the process.
Initial bids have been made and prospective Supercars buyers are now conducting due diligence in a ‘data room’. The next step expected within weeks is final bids.
Archer gets the job of plucking its favoured bids, understood to be as few as two. From there Supercars team owners then get the right to select a favourite.
The teams have significant power in this process via what are called tag-along rights.
It is understood the team owners are currently in a watching brief with T8 boss Roland Dane acting as their pointman. They will become more heavily involved as the process progresses into final bids.
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