Eddie Jordan has called the valuation attributed to the Alpine F1 team on the back of the team's €200 million equity raise "preposterous" and "ridiculous".
Alpine announced on Monday that a group of US investors that included Hollywood actors Ryan Reynords and Rob McElhenney had taken a 24% equity stake in the Enstone squad, an investments that values the team at €820 million euros or approximately $900 million.
In an interview with GB News, Jordan said that Alpine's "financial model doesn't stack up", insisting the French outfit is nowhere near being worth the valuation attributed to it by its equity raise.
"I don't believe it," commented the former F1 team owner.
"First of all, I won't use the word fake news, but I mean, there's absolutely no way from an accounting point of view - the financial model doesn't stack up. That's number one.
"It's all very nice and very sexy to put these figures on things but they need to be supported and they need to be authorised.
"I noticed that there hasn’t been any reaction from Alpine or indeed from Renault which is a major shareholder. And I find that in itself kind of strange.
"To value something of that level at a gross value of £700m - it's preposterous. It's ridiculous. What does that mean for the value of people like Ferrari or Mercedes or a Red Bull for example?
"That is what I consider to be the value of those teams. Alpine - it's just not even close to that yet."
Jordan's claim that Alpine and Renault had not reacted to the news is wide of the mark. Both Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi and Renault Group chief Luca de Meo officially reacted to the team's financial partnership with its US investors
"Formula 1 and Alpine are strategic assets for Renault Group," said de Meo.
"Over the past two years, we have re-ignited Alpine, capitalizing on its iconic A110 sports coupé, boosting it by entering Formula 1, where it aims to become a championship contender.
"This partnership will accelerate Alpine F1 development by diversifying revenue drivers and increasing brand value."
Jordan believes that Alpine's new investors are merely leveraging the public image – especially in the American market – of Reynolds and McElhenney who also happen to be the very successful owners of Wrexham Football Club.
Alpine F1 investors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The Irishman doubts that the actors have put much of their own money into the Alpine team.
"The two people that you've mentioned, hugely big stars and a huge addition particularly for the American market, which is probably where Renault was trying to look forward to," added Jordan.
"They're probably not putting a lot of their own money into this. I would say that the real people behind it in the States who have taken this investment, they're using these two stars.
"Formula One is going through the roof and in terms of the sport, I think it's behind football of course, but there's actually only 10 franchises, whereas in football you've got 30 to 40 in each country throughout the world.
"So you multiply all of that out and then ask yourself, what is the value of having something in a niche market like Formula One? Why is the team not called Renault? Are they hiding behind something?"
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