Image: London Based franchise price rises / © India Today
In the Hundred Tournament, RPSG’s owner Sanjiv Goenka has made a bid of $181 million for the Lord’s based franchise London Spirit which is more than the bids placed by the team of Ambanis, Mumbai Indians. Mukesh Ambani and Sanjiv Goenka, who are the owners of IPL teams have also shown activeness in acquiring the stakes of The Hundred teams.
The England Cricket Board is offering 49 per cent stakes to the investors for all the teams of the Hundred. On Friday, the first bidding round came to an end, as 100+ bids came down for all the franchises. The teams have been valued at more than $650 million and it is expected that the Board will be raising 500+ million from this. However, the bids have now been received for approximately $841 million in the first bid process.
Among all the Indian investors who were available to stake for the teams, Sanjiv Goenka emerged as the highest bidder, as he bid $181 million for the London Spirit. There are various bids placed already above the 181 range but only one Indian investor was able to reach this mark. Goenka is also the owner of the IPL team Lucknow SuperGiants.
It should be noted that the England Cricket Board started off the bidding round with 100% stakes in the teams. However, it is willing to stake just 49 per cent of the same, while the remaining will be held by the country to which the team belongs. It was expected that more than 500 million euros would be generated from the bidding rounds, but it generated much more than expected.