Image: Northern Superchargers was bought for £100 million by the Sun Group / © News9Live
In the tournament, The Hundred, the owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sun Group, have acquired a 100% stake in the Northern Superchargers. This makes the Sun Group the third IPL franchise to invest in a team in The Hundred. Their bid included a 49% stake in the ECB and a 51% stake in Yorkshire, the host county.
The total valuation of the Superchargers is reported to be £100 million, with Yorkshire receiving 80% of the £40 million from the sale of their share. The Sun Group, which also owns Sunrisers Hyderabad (acquired in 2012) and Sunrisers Eastern Cape, which won the first two editions of SA20, now holds its third T20 franchise. This deal marks a milestone as Northern Superchargers becomes the first team to be fully sold.
Yorkshire’s CEO, Sanjay Patel, expressed excitement about working with Sun Group, acknowledging that they share similar values for the club’s future. He said:
We are delighted to be entering into an exclusivity period with the Sun Group and will be continuing our conversations with them in the coming weeks with a view to setting the Northern Superchargers up for long-term and sustained success. Having been in consultation with them for some time now, it is clear that they are aligned with the values and future direction of the club and will play a huge part in ensuring we can go on to achieve great success in the coming years. Today is clearly a huge milestone for Yorkshire CCC, the Northern Superchargers, and the Sun Group, but it is worth stressing that there is a lot of detail to be discussed alongside further due diligence and legal processes before a contract can be signed.
The sale is expected to be completed within eight weeks. Sun Group joins RPSG Group (owners of Lucknow Super Giants) and Reliance Industries (owners of Mumbai Indians), both of which have stakes in other teams in The Hundred.