Three Hundred franchises up for grabs with bidding set to resume
The sale of the final three Hundred franchises could resume on Wednesday after being paused by England cricket chiefs to allow for previously unsuccessful bidders to reassess their options.
Northern Superchargers, Trent Rockets and Southern Brave are still up for grabs following a £340m investment in the other five franchises which valued them at almost £700m.
Renewed bids for the remaining trio from existing bidders and unsuccessful participants in other franchise auctions could push the total value of the Hundred teams towards £1bn.
Southern Brave are likely to be purchased by the GMR Group, which has agreed a deal to take control of the team’s host county, Hampshire.
The Sun Group, owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, was understood to be one of the parties interested in bidding for Northern Superchargers.
Unsuccessful Hundred bidders include groups including Chelsea chair Todd Boehly, Manchester United’s Glazer family, and Six Nations and LaLiga investors CVC Capital Partners.
Hundred a tonic
The sale, run by the Raine Group and advised by Deloitte in conjunction with the England and Wales Cricket Board, has exceeded expectations and will be a tonic to the coffers of counties across the country.
Proceeds from the Hundred club sales will be split 19 ways – between the 18 top counties and Lord’s Marylebone Cricket Club – with the first 10 per cent of proceeds going to the recreational game.
RPSG Group, the owner of Indian Premier League team Lucknow Super Giants, were the winning bidders of Manchester Originals on Monday, valuing the Old Trafford franchise at £100m. Lancashire became the first county cricket side to relinquish a controlling stake in their franchise, selling a further 21 per cent to RPSG Group as part of the deal.
Ambanis, SoftBank and Kinghthead
Mumbai Indians owners the Ambanis – public backers of India’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2036 – took a minority holding in Oval Invincibles in the first deal to be completed.
The most expensive deal so far came at Lord’s, where a consortium of US tech investors led by former SoftBank executive Nikesh Arora won the auction for London Spirit in a deal that values the club at an astonishing £295m.
The owners of Major League Cricket side Washington Freedom won the auction for Welsh Fire with a £40m bid, while Birmingham City FC’s US owners Knighthead Capital spent the same on Birmingham Phoenix.
It leaves the Leeds-based Northern Superchargers and Nottingham’s Trent Rockets awaiting winning Hundred auction bids, while Southern Brave are in the same boat but expected to be purchased by Hampshire owners The GMR Group.