KOLKATA: After months of (often wild) speculations, storied football club East Bengal FC confirmed on Wednesday that it has roped in a new investor in Kolkata-based Shree Cement.
Shree Cement is owned by the Bangur Group, one of the renowned business groups in the city.
The arrival of the new investor will solve the club’s financial struggles, in play ever since the exit of Quess Corp, and boost East Bengal’s hopes of competing in the top-division of Indian football – the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) – in the upcoming 2020-2021 season.
Around the time when their fiercest rivals Mohun Bagan merged with ISL franchise ATK to form ATK Mohun Bagan and enter the top-division league of the country, East Bengal had been fighting for survival.
Wednesday’s announcement was made at the West Bengal government headquarters, Nabanna, in the presence of state chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Shree Cement officials.
“This will show a new path to others. Really commendable of Shree Cements to come up and invest in football in such times. Hopefully there won’t be any more difficulties for East Bengal in the future. We want Bengal to be best in everything. Bengal should always show the way. Really happy that East Bengal’s problems are over and they can take part in the ISL,” Ms Banerjee said.
“This association with the cement company will be strong enough. All our success in the 100th year will be dedicated to Mamata Banerjee,” said East Bengal general secretary Kalyan Majumdar.
Shree Cement have acquired majority stakes in the club, and the century old club now have until 4th September to put pen to paper on the deal.
Regarding the long in the pipeline and welcome development, the club tweeted from its official Twitter handle: “East Bengal Club thanking Hon’ble CM of West Bengal, Smt. Mamata Banerjee, Hon’ble Sports Minister of West Bengal, Sh. Arup Biswas and Sh. Sourav Ganguly. They have been hugely instrumental in getting the Red and Gold in top tier of #IndianFootball”
Shree Cement, run by Benu Gopal Bangur, is one of India’s premier cement makers and the 3rd largest cement brand in the country. They had an annual turnover of Rs 121.756 billion in the financial year 2019-20 and was ranked 122 in the Economic Times’ list of India’s biggest companies.
Shamik Seth from Shree Cement also credited Ms Banerjee for the deal coming through and said, “We are very proud to be associated with East Bengal.”
“After getting the investor, we will appeal to play in the ISL. We will adhere to their system (rules). We (East Bengal) sat down with them last evening but all the issues were not solved, Mamata Banerjee was present and she herself helped iron out the details,” senior East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar said.
This season’s ISL will likely be held between November to March with the concept of a bio-secure environment in place as all matches beig played at three venues in Goa – the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Fatorda in Margao, the Tilak Nagar Stadium at Vasco da Gama and the GMC Athletic Stadium at Bambolim.
