Aussie entrepreneur and loud and proud car lover, Adrian Portelli, today announced he is buying a stake in automotive festivals, motorsport and media company, the Out There Group. Joined by Out There Group’s co-owner, Andy Lopez in today’s media conference, the pair outlined the arrangement and their joint plans for the future.
The Out There Group stable includes Summernats, RockyNats, MotorEx, Red CentreNATS and Dust Hustle, Australia’s premier drag racing series the National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC), plus Australia’s iconic motoring magazine and digital content house, Street Machine.
“Over the last 15 years, we have built a fantastic suite of motorsport festivals and recently we have extended our reach within the car community with the NDRC and the acquisition of Street Machine. All of our flagship brands are going amazing and continue to flourish,” said Andy Lopez, co-owner of Out There Group.
“Today, I’m really proud to announce that Adrian Portelli is investing in our business as a shareholder across everything we do and everything we want to do in the future. Whilst the current owners of Out There Group retain the majority share, Adrian’s holding and role is significant,” a delighted Lopez added.
Lopez and Portelli have been in discussions about the company buy-in for a number of months and, according to Lopez, the final result is about a shared passion and vision – “I say this genuinely, I could not think of a better bloke to work with. With Adrian, we have new creativity and energy from a true entrepreneur and best of all, he’s a great guy and genuine car nut. There’s no-one else out there who loves what we do and the community we serve more than Adrian.
“There’s been so many things we’ve wanted to do over the years that we haven’t been able to do on our own. With a guy like Adrian and his business smarts, passion and creativity, we’re heading for the next level,” Lopez said.
Portelli, best known for his LMCT+ business, is equally buoyant about his investment.
“This is a really exciting chapter for me. Everyone who knows me understands just how much I love the car community and now I’m joining a crew that are doing awesome things for that community,” said Portelli.
“I’m not here to change anything and that’s a really important statement for me to make. I’m here because I love what these guys do and how they do it. I want to help grow the current business and to future proof our scene. The thing that also excites me is the chance to create new festival experiences and concepts in the future.”
The Out There Group has a rich history in the live music industry and today provides the infrastructure for the biggest and smallest artists in the country to perform at its events. With live music festivals suffering nationally from a downturn and multiple closures, it’s time to turn that trend around, according to Portelli.
“I’ve seen music festivals owned by international companies close down when it gets hard – that is never happening with us,” said Portelli.
“I’ve told Andy I’m here for the good times and I will be his rock if we ever get to hard times.”
Both Lopez and Portelli are already planning on growth opportunities for their Out There Group with international expansion on the cards in the near future.
“I want to take our scene to the world,” Portelli said.
Lopez outlined some of their goals – “Some of our immediate plans are to take Summernats to the US and to keep growing Street Machine into an international digital content and print magazine powerhouse. We also want to take drag racing in this country to a new level.”
Portelli concluded: “I can’t wait to see what happens next. We’re going to do some magic things together.”
