MUMBAI: Ease of doing business? CVC Capital Partners went in with eyes wide open when they made a winning bid of Rs 5625 crore to acquire the Ahmedabad franchise in the Indian Premier League.
It is therefore safe to assume that the US private equity giant has taken in its stride the delay in securing a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the Board of Control, despite having already made a payment of Rs 75 cr to the BCCI, as also having signed the franchise agreement, as required after its winning bid. More so considering that the RPSG Group of Sanjiv Goenka, which successfully bagged the Lucknow franchise, has already received its LoI from the Indian cricket board.
As per Cricbuzz, top CVC officials have had meetings in India, as well as Dubai, with BCCI office-bearers and officials on the issue and another round of talks “could place” this week itself. The cricket website further reports that the legal team of the BCCI is “looking into the CVC files” and that there is a chance that a committee could be formed to “adjudicate on the matter”.
And what will said committee adjudicate on? Questions that have been raised over the fact that CVC Capital, which has 107 portfolio companies under its umbrella and approximately $111 billion in secured commitments, holds stakes in a betting company. In its portfolio is Tipico, Germany’s leading sports betting provider that has built up more than 50% market share in the German market.
Coming back to the BCCI, the board has time up to December 31 for a second round of due diligence, if needed.
For the record, CVC won the Ahmedabad franchise with a Rs 5625 cr bid, pipping “overwhelming favourite” Adani Group to the post as it were. Adani’s bid of Rs 5,100 cr turned out to be third in line after CVC and highest bidder RPSG Group, which won the Lucknow franchise after an astronomical bid of Rs 7,090 cr.
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