RCB Sale Nears $1.8 Billion as Aditya Birla–Blackstone Group Leads Bid
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is likely to be sold soon. A group made up of Aditya Birla Group, Blackstone, and Bolt Ventures is planning to buy the team, according to Bloomberg. Earlier, people expected the deal to be around $2 billion, but now it looks like the team may be sold for about $1.8 billion. The current owners, Diageo had set March 16 as the final day for the interested parties to submit a bidding.
RCB Sale Nears $1.8 Billion as Birla-Blackstone Group Leads Bid
This decision likely came after a review by United Spirits Ltd. Meanwhile, another IPL team, Rajasthan Royals, was recently sold to a group led by Kal Somani for about $1.63 billion. That includes Rob Walton of Walmart as well. The formal announcement for RCB will take place soon, though. Other parties interested in the purchase of RCB included Ranjan Pai-led Manipal Consortium, and also Swedish Private equity firm EQT.
There are also reports that a fourth investor could join the group buying Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RCB owns both its men’s team in the IPL and its women’s team in the WPL. One big reason for the high price could be that both teams have already won titles, which adds to the franchise’s value.
Meanwhile, the Birla Group has only increased its sports visibility. They were the official partners for Team India at the Paris Olympics, and also hold a stake in Virat Kohli’s Wrogn. Blitzer has stakes in different teams of NBA, EPL, MLB and MLS.
