Pynes Bruin Capital business is believed to be making an offer for the Australian touring car line through the recent acquisition of TGI Sport.
TGI Sport was acquired in partnership with QMS Media and also includes leading sports and marketing agency TLA Worldwide, which already has a significant presence in Australia.
The tender is expected to come through TGI and TLA, with supercars legend Mark Skaife, already affiliated with TLA, acting as the figurehead.
There is another direct link to motorsport through Craig Kelly, CEO of TLA Worldwide, who was formerly CEO of the Holden Racing Team.
Bruin founder and CEO Pyne would also bring his own motorsport experience to any offer to buy supercars after working for NASCAR for a decade.
He joined the American series in 1995 and rose to COO, where he oversaw a number of successful broadcasting deals and won telecommunications giant NEXTEL as the main sponsor for a lucrative deal.
He was also a board member of NASCAR before joining IMG Worldwide in 2006.
TLA is already closely involved in motorsport in Australia through personal arrangements with the likes of Skaife and three-time serial champion Scott McLaughlin. It also managed public relations for the Adelaide 500 before the event closed and had a PR deal with Supercars themselves until the pandemic.
His current active involvement includes working with Ampol on title sponsorship with Triple Eight and managing the media for the Finke Desert Race.
TLA declined to comment on a possible offer to buy supercars when it was raised by Motorsport.com.
Archer Capital, which paid $ 137 million in 2011 for its 65 percent stake in supercars, has made repeated attempts to sell its stake in recent years.
Efforts to outsource the category appear to be more concerted at the moment, however, as a number of bidders are starting their campaigns to get a majority stake in the series.
A number of different ownership options are believed to be on the table, from the current model, where teams own 35 percent, to total ownership by the new buyer.
In addition to the TGI / TLA application, there is also talk of a consortium of top-class motorsport identities having come together to buy supercars.
The consortium is said to consist of Bathurst 1000 winner Paul Morris, Boost Mobile founder and team sponsor Peter Adderton, SCT Logistics founder Pete Smith, MotoGP legend Mick Doohan and British Touring Car Championship CEO Alan Gow .
Again, there has been little formal confirmation of the offer beyond the talk in the paddock, though Adderton has launched a not-so-subtle campaign to keep Australian-owned supercars through his popular Instagram account.
Three days ago he posted a photo of the start of the Bathurst 1000 1979 with the caption: “I remember sitting on the couch with my father all Sunday as a little kid watching the biggest race in the world, Bathurst Australian Breed and should always be owned by Australians. There are some things that we need to protect, this breed is one of them [Supercars] Aussie obsessed … “.
A day later he followed suit with a work of art of Skaife’s face overlaid on the famous Uncle Sam poster with another pro-Aussie proprietary signature that read: “[Supercars] Fans are not stupid, they see through the attempt by the US Bruin PE fund to use it [Skaife] as a symbolic Aussie to steal the greatest race in Australia. It must remain in Australian ownership. “
Another potential applicant is the Australian Racing Group.
ARG has grown its presence quickly since it took to the stage in 2018 as the promoter of the new TCR Australia series.
Under the direction of former Supercars CEO Matt Braid, ARG has since established the local TCR series and now owns and / or markets the S5000, Trans Am, Touring Car Masters and GT World Challenge Australia.
ARG also beat Supercars in a fifth Bathurst event that became Bathurst International and works closely with Motorsport Australia on the Shannons Championship events.
It’s an open secret that ARG has tried to buy supercars at least once before, with an offer – allegedly around the $ 40 million mark – that was turned down in 2019.
Among the front runners, ARG is believed to be the least likely to make a serious offer, though it hasn’t ruled it out entirely.
“ARG has always been open to touring various motorsport properties in Australia and elsewhere,” Braid told Motorsport.com.
“That has not changed. We are always open to possibilities and opportunities. But beyond that, no comment.”
