A consortium comprising Indian and overseas business entities has successfully bought full ownership of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru franchise.
The cost – an eye-watering sum of about US $1.78 billion.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, the “all-cash” deal was announced by the United Spirits Limited, the existing owner of the RCB teams in the IPL and WPL.
USL says its board has approved the sale of the franchise to a consortium comprising Aditya Birla Group, the Times of India Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone’s perpetual private equity strategy, BXPE.
After this deal, USL said both RCB teams, which were being run by its subsidiary Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited, will now be “owned and operated” by the consortium.
The deal has to be ratified by the BCCI as well as the Competition Commission of India before the consortium formally takes charge of the franchise.
