India’s richest family has clinched a landmark deal to buy a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles in a deal that will unite the London-based team with the ownership of the Indian Premier League’s Mumbai Indians.
Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Ambani family, which has a fortune estimated to be tens of billions of dollars, triumphed in a live three-way auction conducted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Friday.
The price that the Ambanis agreed to pay for the ECB stake was unclear, although sources said it was understood to have valued 100% of Oval Invincibles at approximately £125m.
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If that price is confirmed, the roughly £60m accruing to the ECB would set a benchmark for the sale of the governing body’s stakes in the remaining seven teams to be conducted over the next week.
The Mumbai Indians’ owners triumphed after competing against a group of technology billionaires including the bosses of Google and Microsoft.
CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm which has been a prolific investor in elite sport ranging from Formula One to volleyball, was also slated to take part in the auction.
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The outcome, which may not be formally announced until next week, will see the Ambanis emerge among the most powerful stakeholders in English cricket.
One insider said the Mumbai Indians would gain significant governance rights over the cricketing aspects of the Oval Invincibles team.
The Oval Invincibles’ men’s team, captained by Sam Curran and featuring England internationals such as Gus Atkinson, is expected to fetch the second-highest price of any of the teams, behind Lords-based London Spirit, which will see the ECB’s stake sold on Friday.
The tech billionaire consortium will also take part in that process.
Bidders in auctions with at least three participants are able to submit binding offers at 15-minute intervals, and in increments of at least £3m.
Birmingham Phoenix is next on the block, with its auction scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Losing bidders in each franchise may be given the opportunity to participate in the remaining processes, although the mechanics of such a scenario were unclear on Wednesday.
The other remaining bidders for London Spirit are a vehicle controlled by Todd Boehly, a shareholder in Chelsea Football Club; members of the Manchester United-owning Glazer family; and RPSG Group, the owner of the Indian Premier League team Lucknow Super Giants.
For franchises with only two shortlisted bidders, the auction will involve a straightforward sealed bid shootout.
The London Spirit franchise is expected to be valued at more than £140m, meaning the proceeds to be received and distributed by the ECB would be at least £70m, the insiders added.
In total, the ECB has indicated that the eight teams could be worth in the region of £350m, although there are hopes that that figure will be exceeded.
The proceeds will be distributed between the hosts, non-host counties and the grassroots game.
Host counties are also allowed to sell their 51% shareholdings, although some have said they do not intend to do so.
The MCC, which controls the London Spirit franchise, does not intend to offload any of its stake at this point, according to cricket insiders.
Investors will only be allowed to own a stake in one of the eight teams, which also include Welsh Fire, Southern Brave and the Northern Superchargers.
A bigger-than-expected windfall from the process could offer a financial lifeline to a number of cash-strapped counties, with part of the proceeds likely to be used to pay down debt.
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Concerns have been raised, however, that windfalls from the Hundred auction will not deliver a meaningful improvement in counties’ long-term financial sustainability.
The outcome of the Hundred auction is also likely to intensify other searching questions about the future of cricket, as the Test format of the game struggles for international commercial relevance against shorter-length competition.
The Hundred auction is being handled by bankers at Raine Group, the same firm which oversaw the sale of large stakes in both Manchester United and Chelsea in recent years.
The ECB declined to comment on Thursday, while the participants in the Oval Invincibles process could not be reached for comment.
