A consortium of Aditya Birla Group, Times of India Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone has bought Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for $1.78 billion, the consortium said on Tuesday.
Seller United Spirits, the India unit of UK-based drinks giant Diageo, kicked off a strategic review of its 100 per cent stake in the Bengaluru franchise in November, describing it as “non-core” to its main liquor business.
That interest is fueled by rising team revenues and the record valuation of the Twenty20 league, which was pegged at $18.5 billion last year by the an investment bank, Houlihan Lokey.
Aryaman Vikram Birla of the Aditya Birla Group will be chairman of this franchise and Satyan Gajwani of Times of India Group will be vice-chairman.