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$100M OFFERS FOR SUPERCARS

$100 million offers for Supercars - Image: InSyde Media

By Mark Fogarty

Final offers for Supercars, worth up to $100 million, will be submitted soon.

The joint TLA/ARG bid and the News Corp-supported consortium are still vying to buy V8 racing.

Both groups have been deep in due diligence in recent weeks preparatory to making formal offers.

The final bids are due to be made “very shortly”, according to an informed source.

Teams have to approve the terms of the final sale.

AUTO ACTION understands that the only team owners privy to the details of each bid so far are Supercars board members Brad Jones and Rod Nash, plus Roland Dane.

Pitches from each bidding group to all team bosses are due to happen soon.

AA has learned that Supercars majority owner Archer Capital has pushed back the deadline for final bids “by a couple of weeks or so” due to internal delays.

A decision is still due by the end of this month.

Sports marketing agency TLA joined with promoter Australian Racing Group to present a combined bid to take over Supercars.

V8 legend Mark Skaife is involved as a primary advisor.

The rival group comprises Boost Mobile chief Peter Adderton, BTCC boss Alan Gow, five-time world motorcycle champion Mick Doohan, transport magnate Pete Smith and ex-racer Paul Morris.

The syndicate has the backing of media giant News Corp through its part-ownership of NRL wooden spooner Brisbane Broncos, which would provide commercial, marketing and communications expertise.

If the TLA/ARG bid were successful, there is speculation the Bathurst 1000 and Bathurst International would be combined in late November/early December as a six-day motorsport carnival at Mount Panorama.

As revealed by AA previously, both finalists want total control of Supercars, bidding for the teams’ 35 per cent ownership as well as Archer’s 65 per cent controlling share.

Archer valued its stake at $60 million, with the total takeover price expected to be close to $100 million.

An insight into the top-secret sale process was provided by SGT transport owner Pete Smith, who also owns the REC that underpins his son Jack’s BJR entry.

A key member of the ‘Adderton’ consortium, Smith laid out the group’s plans for Supercars to Bruce Newton in an exclusive interview in Thursday’s new issue of AUTO ACTION.

“The offer we are putting in is very generous as far as the teams are concerned and, in our view, in the best interests of the sport,” he told Newton. “[As] a REC owner … I’d be very happy with it.

“We are all businessmen and we want to make a quid but we don’t see any chance of making any money or Supercars being successful into the future unless the teams are very much made a part of it.

“That is the direction we’ve adopted. It might take two to three years to get in that position, but the people who are involved in this consortium know a little bit about the game and we’ve got most of the areas covered.”

Smith also forecast his group delaying the introduction of Gen3 until 2023 and mounting a concerted campaign to attract young fans.

“Our opinion is the Gen3 car should not even exist for next year,” he declared. “More importantly, you have to develop the next generation of fans and Supercars hasn’t been doing that in my opinion.

“We’d be letting kids under 16 in for free, promoting concerts, every possible thing we could to get younger people back in and being part of the overall entertainment

“We believe we could provide that better than what Supercars does today.”

For more of the latest Supercars news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media FacebookTwitter, Instagram or our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.