The Shahins have received regulatory approval to sell OTR to the local licensee of Shell in a billion-dollar deal.
The acquisition was announced in April, pending approval of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), and would add the OTR Group’s technology and know-how to Viva Energy’s network of Shell service stations.
In conjunction with the would-be deal, The Bend Motorsport Park was renamed ‘Shell V-Power Motorsport Park’, a change which took effect just before this year’s OTR SuperSprint in August.
In the meantime, the ACCC worked through competition concerns, mainly around OTR’s already sizeable share of fuel/convenience retailing in its home market of in South Australia.
It has now approved the deal, with Viva made to divest 25 of its South Australian retail sites (including 24 in Adelaide) instead of the initial offer of 23.
The wheeling and dealing by the Shahins had fuelled speculation that they were also going to buy the Supercars Championship, which was only acquired by RACE in late-2021.
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Speedcafe understands, though, that such rumours remain wide of the mark, despite Sam Shahin keeping his cards close to his chest on the matter.
On the Viva-OTR deal, ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgeway said, “Without the divestiture, the proposed acquisition would combine the largest retail fuel network in South Australia with Viva Energy’s retail network, providing Viva Energy with an extended network that is significantly larger than its next largest rival.
“The ACCC was concerned that the proposed acquisition would adversely affect competition and reduce choice for consumers in Adelaide and Ceduna.”
The Shahins looked at buying Supercars through the Peregrine Corporation, which owns OTR for now, when the category last came up for sale at the end of the Archer Capital era.
It is understood that Peregrine was among the lower bidders at the time, and there is no obvious appetite for RACE to sell now considering its big-money investment in parity measures such as wind tunnel testing and transient dynamometer work.
Supercars lost $2.7 million in its first year under RACE ownership, a figure which is likely to end up even greater for the 2023 calendar year due to unexpected costs of the Gen3 implementation.
The Shahins are heavily invested in motorsport regardless of any possible future stake in Supercars given they also own another South Australian circuit, namely Mallala Motorsport Park.
Both Sam and Yasser Shahin are also regular competitors on the national scene, with titles to their names in Carrera Cup and GT World Challenge.
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