Spirits giant Diageo Plc is considering a potential offloading of stake its Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the reigning IPL 2025 champions, Bloomberg reports.
RCB is owned by British-based Diageo’s Indian arm, United Spirits.
Bloomberg reports that the alcoholic beverage titan is in early discussions with potential advisers for a part or full sale of stake in RCB that could see a valuation of around $2 billion for the franchise, though no final decision has been made.
RCB won their first IPL title this year and the team’s value is at an all-time high.
RCB’s earliest iteration came in 2008 when former United Spirits chairman Vijay Mallya successfully bid for the Bengaluru franchise ahead of IPL’s first season.
Diageo began to purchase stakes in United Spirits over a decade ago – acquiring 54% in 2012.
If Diageo does go through with this reported plan, RCB will be the second IPL team to offload stake this year. In February, CVC Capital Partners sold a 67% stake in Gujarat Titans to Torrent Group for approximately Rs 5,025 crore ($587 million). The acquisition gave Torrent Group a controlling stake in the team at an enterprise valuation of Rs 7,500 crore ($876m).
CVC originally won the bid for Gujarat Titans in 2021 for Rs 5,625 crore ($647m).
Which begs the question, will Diageo really be able to negotiate a stake sale for RCB at a $2 billion enterprise valuation?
