Auction of franchises in The Hundred ends with Southern Brave going to Indian investors for $62M

LONDON (AP) — The auction process selling stakes of franchises in English cricket competition The Hundred concluded Wednesday with a deal for 49% of Southern Brave by GMR, the co-owner of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League.

GMR agreed to pay a reported fee of nearly 50 million pounds ($62 million), taking the amount paid for stakes in the eight franchises — ranging to 49% to 100% — to over 500 million ($620 million).

The England and Wales Cricket Board reportedly had a target of raising a total of 350 million pounds ($435 million) from the auction but is set to comfortably exceed that. It was helped by a major deal for London Spirit, bought by a billionaire tech consortium including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for a reported price of 145 million pounds ($180 million).

Also, Cain International, a company co-funded by Chelsea part-owner Todd Boehly, agreed to a deal to pay 40 million pounds ($50 million) for 49% of Trent Rockets.

The investors will enter an exclusivity period to finalize the deals.

Proceeds from the sales will be split 19 ways — between the 18 long-established county teams in the English and Welsh domestic game and the Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns the storied Lord’s ground and is regarded as the guardian of the laws of the game. A large donation will also go to the recreational game in England and Wales.

The Hundred only began in 2021.

A total of four IPL ownership groups have now claimed a piece in the Hundred, with GMR’s interest in the Brave following on from Reliance (Mumbai Indians and Oval Invincibles), Sun Group (Sunrisers Hyderabad and Northern Superchargers) and RPSG (Lucknow Supergiants and Manchester Originals).

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket