The franchise lifted the IPL title in 2025 for the first time in their 18-year history.
Who would not want to buy a franchise that just lifted the Indian Premier League (IPL) title? The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), months after making their way to their maiden IPL title are making headlines for some non-cricket news. The owners of the franchise recently expressed their intention to sell the franchise. The news comes ahead of the IPL 2026.
However, alongside RCB, there is speculation that one more franchise is looking to sell some stake in the form of a minority equity. And it isn’t today that the franchise has started looking out for some investment. With the costs of managing an IPL team skyrocketing, the management is on the lookout for an investor since the last few years.
Having said that, the most fresh loaf up for grabs on the IPL landscape is RCB. It is learnt that five different investors have expressed their interests to acquire the IPL 2025 champions. Diageo Great Britain, who are the owners of the franchise are not completely on board with the decision yet. However, there are reports that some of the shareholders of the company are not happy with the being associated in the IPL, which is not their core business.
The selling of an IPL team is a very complex process. Having said that, it has come to notice that not just one or two, but five parties have shown interest in the deal. A few Indian as well as American parties are known to be in touch with Diageo Great Britain. Some of them are Adar Poonawala of Serum Institute, Parth Jindal of JSW Steel, the Adani Group and a business tycoon based out of Delhi.
Alongside the four parties mentioned above, two private equity companies in the United States are also in discussions for the deal. But here’s the catch! The Jindal group already own 50% of the Delhi Capitals, and if they are to make a bid for the RCB franchise, the ownership with DC will have to be curtains. Moreover, the Adani Group missed out on acquiring a franchise in 2022, and will be keen to get this deal in their favour.
To add to the already existing chaos, the Poonawala family is not new to the possibilities of being associated with an IPL team. Cyrus Poonawala had acquired the Invitation to Tender (ITT) back in 2010, when the IPL management decided to launch two new teams, the bids for which eventually went out to Sahara and Rendezvous Sports.
Adar Poonawala raised quite a few eyebrows recently by posting a tweet on social media. His tweet on X (formerly Twitter) sent across a cryptic message indicating the CEO of Serum Institute of India’s intentions to join forces with the franchise.
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Though everything about the franchise is cricket, one thing that stands out during a deal would be the valuation. The valuation is expected to play a major role in the deal. Diageo is quoting $2 Billion for the franchise, which has raised quite a few eyebrows. The debate is about whether an IPL franchise should cost that much.
Another important factor to look forward to for the bidders would be the cost projections in terms of the media rights. After the merger between Jio and Star, who were two of the fiercest competitors in the media game, it is expected that the prices won’t go up exponentially. But, the JioStar subscriber base has exceeded 500 million, and that would be worth noting.
The parent company is known to have hired two banks, one of them being Citi to assist them on the same matter. Though it is not clear whether the deal would go ahead or not, a few of the company’s officials were in the United Kingdom recently to discuss the deal.
All said and done, the factors around the deal aren’t limited to just the valuation. The stampede outside the Chinnaswamy stadium a day after the franchise won the IPL still remains to be an unresolved case. To add to that, the Women’s World Cup 2025 fixtures which were initially scheduled at the venue had to be moved at the eleventh hour. With all these factors in the balance, what happens to the deal would be interesting to keep tabs on.
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