New Delhi: In a historic day for Indian cricket, two Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises saw an investment of a combined worth of a whopping USD 3.41 million (approx. Rs 34000 crore).
Hours after the Rajasthan Royals (RR) were acquired for USD 1.63 billion (approx. Rs 15,300 crore) by a US-based consortium led by investor Kal Somani, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were sold to Aditya Birla Group (ABG) for USD 1.78 billion (approximately Rs 16,706 crore) from its current owner, the United Spirits Limited.
The Aditya Birla-led consortium includes Blackstone’s perpetual private equity strategy, BXPE, a firm of which Viral Patel is the CEO, Bolt Ventures, owned by American investor David Blitzer, and media conglomerate Times of India.
“United Spirits Limited, pursuant to the meeting of its Board of Directors, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for the sale of the 100 percent equity stake held in its wholly owned subsidiary Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited (RCSPL) to a consortium,” the USL said in a statement.
“The consortium comprises Aditya Birla Group (ABG), The Times of India Group (Times), Bolt Ventures (Bolt), and Blackstone’s perpetual private equity strategy, BXPE (Blackstone) for a total consideration of INR 166.6 bn in an all cash transaction,” the statement added.
The transaction includes RCB’s men’s and women’s (WPL) teams.
As per the sale agreement, Aryaman Vikram Birla, ABG’s director, will be the chairman of RCB while Satyan Gajwani of Times of India will be his deputy.
Aryaman Birla, said: “It is a privilege to come together in this partnership to shape the next phase of growth for RCB. This partnership brings together a deep understanding of sports, media and consumer businesses.”
Who is Aryaman Birla?
Son of Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairperson of Aditya Birla Group, Aryaman played professional cricket for Madhya Pradesh in the domestic circuit. He was teammates with RCB captain Rajat Patidar and Venkatesh Iyer.
During his short cricket career, Aryman played nine first-class matches for Madhya Pradesh and scored 414 runs, including one century. He also scored 36 runs in four List-A matches.
Aryaman was part of the players’ list at the IPL 2018 mega auction and was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 30 lakh.
However, he warmed the bench the entire season and was released ahead of the 2020 season.
Standing at the crossroads, Aryaman decided to take a ‘sabbatical’ from cricket to cope with ‘severe anxiety’.