The Hundred, the 100-ball format limited-league tournament invented by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), has found an interested audience with the deep-pocketed businessmen from India as claimed by a report. The cricket board has already issued a tender for the interested parties who wish to pick up a guaranteed stake in any of its eight Hundred teams which it possesses. The last day for receiving the bids was October 18 and as stated by armscricket.com, top IPL franchises like the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders are among the seven franchises that have expressed interest.
It is also reported that the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Women’s Premier League (WPL) outfit UP Warriorz shall have placed their bids.
‘The ECB aims to sell at least 49% of each of the eight teams to new investors whose vision, experience and capabilities will enhance The Hundred,’ it explained.
According to the Information Memorandum (IM) referred to by Cricbuzz, to take 49% interest in any of the teams, an investment of 40m-50m pounds will be necessary.
The other 51 percent shall remain with the respective counties.
“ECB then intends to transfer its outstanding interest in each of those teams to the team’s respective hosts, thereby ensuring that the new investors will always bond with some of the best cricket cultures in the world. In this regard, the hosts will also have an opportunity to divest some of their ownership in the teams to the new investors in order to facilitate the path to control,” states IM.
In line with ESPN’s reports, in September the ECB had disseminated the investment prospectuses to 100 interested parties, each of whom was expected to indicate whether they wished to purchase shares in one of the teams by October 18.
“At present, however, there is no restriction on any interested party in expressing an interest in all eight clubs. We’ll have a clearer picture in about a week or two. We will then probably spend a month or so sifting through those. At the conclusion of that process, they will be free to travel and visit with the county clubs, where they will look to establish appropriate relationships,” as stated by ESPN, ECB ceo Richard Gould went on to say.
