CVC Capital Partners, RPSG Group win bids to own two new IPL teams

Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and Sanjiv Goenka-owned RPSG Group have emerged as the winning bidders for the two new teams for the Indian Premier League.

While the Kolkata-based RPSG won the right to own the Lucknow team Scorchers with a top bid of ₹7,090 crore, CVC will own a team from Ahmedabad called Renegades with a bid of ₹5,600 crore.

The two pipped ten other bidders, including the Adani group and Avram Glazer, whose family owns a majority stake at Manchester United football.

CVC Capital Partners is a private equity and investment advisory firm based in Luxembourg that have invested in other sports across the globe.

For the Kolkata-based RPSG group, this is the second innings in IPL. It had earlier owned the Rising Pune Supergiant which came in as a replacement for Chennai Super Kings. While Sanjiv gets an opportunity to get back into league, his brother Harsh Goenka, Chairman of Mumbai-based RPG Group, had a different take. “At expected winning price of ₹3,500-4,000 crore, return (on investment) is poor, consumer catchment is lower in remaining cities and additional matches may lead to TRP fatigue,” he tweeted. The BCCI was expecting in the range of ₹10,000 crore but the combined bid is around ₹12,690 crore from the two new teams.

Analysts expect the IPL valuation to go up due to the addition of the two new teams. Santosh N, Managing Partner at D and P Advisory told BusinessLine, “From 56 matches, we will be moving to over 70 matches, a 25 per cent increase. 2022 is also when IPL broadcasting rights get renewed, and with the potential merger between Sony and Zee creating a broadcasting giant, the value of IPL might be 50 per cent higher.”

Jay Shah, Honorary Secretary, BCCI said: IWe had promised that IPL will be bigger and better from the 15th season and with Lucknow and Ahmedabad, we will take the league to different parts of India. I am thrilled for the people of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat as the long wait is over and they will now have their own IPL team.”

Brijesh Patel, Chairman, IPL said: The level of interest among the interested parties proves that IPL is among the most sought-after sporting leagues in the world. We had bids from different parts of the world and from parties with diverse portfolios wanting to make a foray into the world of sports.” The Hindu Business Line