IPL team owners eye market listing, PE fundraising

While KPH Dreams Cricket Pvt. Ltd (Kings Xi Punjab) and JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd (Delhi Capitals) are weighing a public listing, Rajasthan Royals is looking to raise private equity funds, said a BCCI official, one of the three people who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second BCCI official also confirmed that two firms approached the board for clarity on listing on bourses.

Currently, the talks are at an exploratory stage.

JSW GMR Cricket, the holding company of the Delhi Capitals IPL team, said it is seeking clarity from BCCI on a possible listing. “We don’t have absolute clarity on whether IPL teams can go public. We are awaiting clarity from BCCI on whether franchises are allowed to access capital markets and go public. So, as of now, none of the IPL teams has done it. So, there’s a little bit of regulatory uncertainty on this front. But once we get that clearance, that it is allowed, then we will plan with my partners at GMR," said Parth Jindal, the chairman of JSW GMR Cricket.

Jindal said the company has not officially approached BCCI on this but only made unofficial inquiries. “We also believe that some other teams have officially inquired. So, BCCI just reached out to us, saying that they will provide clarity in due course. So, we are just waiting for clarity from them," he further said.

The firm, Jindal said, may look at listing JSW GMR Cricket. “We can then even merge Pretoria Capitals and Dubai Capitals to make it one big cricket entity. This entity is what we can look at taking public as a consolidated entity."

A spokesperson for KPH Dreams did not respond to a query, while Rajasthan Royals said it did not have a comment.

The second BCCI official cited above added not all franchises would want to be listed since many of them are part of listed companies and thus are unlisted public entities.

For instance, Mumbai Indians’ holding company, Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd, is a fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd; Sunrisers Hyderabad is part of the listed company Sun TV Network, and Royal Challengers Bangalore is owned by United Spirits Ltd, a Diageo group company.

The second most valued IPL franchise, CSK’s holding company, Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd, is owned by India Cements Ltd. The company was demerged from India Cements, and its shares are available in the grey market at a valuation of around ₹6,000 crore.

While IPL franchises have turned profitable since the last media rights cycle, many have now expanded into other T20 leagues in the UAE, South Africa, the Caribbean and the US Major League Cricket Championship. Some of the original IPL team owners have also bought the franchises in the Women’s Premier League.

With this, many are looking at unlocking the value, said multiple people with direct knowledge of some of the franchises’ plans.

naman.suri@livemint.com