The Indian Premier League (IPL) Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team is owned by Diageo India, the Indian division of UK-based Diageo Plc. The company has refuted rumours that it intends to sell its ownership interest in the team.
In a letter to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the BSE Surveillance Department on Tuesday, June 10, Diageo India reiterated that the media allegations about the purported transaction are only hypothetical.
“The company would like to make it clear that it is not pursuing any such discussion and that the aforementioned media claims are speculative in nature. This is for your records and information,” Mital Sanghvi stated, according to Cricbuzz.
The shares of Diageo’s Indian affiliate, United Spirits, have increased after rumours of a possible sale of the RCB franchise appeared, one week after they won their first Indian Premier League title. Diageo is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Discussions in the market on Tuesday intensified after Bloomberg revealed that Diageo is looking into options to sell RCB. The announcement came after RCB won the IPL for the first time since the league’s founding in 2008. On June 4, however, the triumph festivities in Bengaluru took a tragic turn as 11 people were killed and numerous others were hurt.
“Being a public company, there will be a lot of pressure on reputational damage,” stated a well-known expert on the nation’s sports scene who is well-versed in the IPL.
Diageo is reportedly considering valuing the RCB, one of the eight original IPL teams established by Vijay Mallya in 2008, at USD 2 billion. The Gujarat Titans (GT), which Torrent purchased for INR 7,500 crore, or around $1 billion, were compared.
However, IPL founder Lalit Modi thinks that RCB’s staggering USD 2 billion valuation is appropriate.
Noting that GT’s estimate was based on a one-year-old agreement, he said he wouldn’t be shocked if RCB was sold for much more money.
“No decision is final, and they may decide against selling the team, the people said, asking not to be named as the details are private,” according to a report by Bloomberg.
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