IPL: CVC Capital Partners wins bid for Ahmedabad, RPSG Group gets Lucknow

Kolkata-based business tycoon Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group claimed the Lucknow franchise for a whopping Rs 7,090 crore while international equity investment firm CVC Capital won the bid for Ahmedabad with a Rs 5,600 crore offer as the eagerly-awaited two new IPL teams were unveiled in Dubai on Monday, PTI reported.

The BCCI was expecting a windfall in the range of Rs 10,000 crore but to their surprise, earned Rs 12,690 crore from the two new teams that will take part in the 2022 IPL.

“Yes, RPSG had the highest bid of INR 7090 crore while CVC had the second highest bid at Rs 5600 crore. The BCCI stand to earn around $1.7 billion from the deal,” a senior BCCI source present in Dubai told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

IPL will be a 10-team league from 2022. The two cities were favourites in terms of stadium capacity as Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera has more than 100,000 capacity while the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow has 70,000 capacity. The other cities in the hunt are Indore, Guwahati, Cuttack, Dharamsala and Pune.

22 companies had picked up tender document worth Rs 10 lakh but with base price for new teams pegged at Rs 2,000 crore, there were expected to be only five to six serious bidders in fray.

The BCCI had also allowed a consortium of up to three companies/individuals to bid for a franchise.

However, in case of an individual or company, that particular entity’s annual turnover should be minimum Rs 3,000 crore and in case of consortium, each of the three entities should have an annual turnover of Rs 2,500 crore.

Goenka owned the Pune Franchise Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) for two years and is also the owner of ISL franchise ATK Mohun Bagan.

There has been buzz that Lancer group, which is owned by Manchester United owner Avram Glazer, has also picked up the bid document. Gautam Adani and his Adani Group were also expected to bid for the Ahmedabad franchise.

The other notable companies which are in fray comprise Kotak group, pharmaceutical majors Aurobindo Pharma and Torrent group.

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