KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan have finally taken a decisive step to resolve their long-running financial woes.
At a press meet here Wednesday, club secretary Anjan Mitra announced a new deal with Streamcast Technologies, a US-based tech company that will become the Mariners’ principal sponsor for the next 10 years as well as its largest shareholder.
Minutes after the meet, Mohun Bagan football secretary Swapan Banerjee said in a television appearance that the deal was worth Rs 2 billion, which amounts to Rs 200 million per year.
Streamcast has also committed to raising another Rs 1.5 billion for investment in the club, taking the total amount committed to Rs 3.5 billion.
In return, a 74% controlling stake of the club will go to the Streamcast Group, while the remaining 26% will stay with four senior officials of the existing Mohun Bagan hierarchy.
Mohun Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra, Swapan Sadhan Bose, Srinjay Bose and Debasish Datta, are the four shareholding directors of Mohun Bagan Football Club (India) Pvt. Ltd.. Mitra’s daughter Sohini Mitra Chaubey is a non-shareholding member.
The only possible spoke in the wheel could come from the fact that Mitra and the other three directors are oftentimes on opposing sides when it comes to club matters.
Staying with the positives, Banerjee also said that the club was looking to enter the Indian Super League at the earliest possible chance,
“We have to play in ISL… we’ll know more about the sitation after mid-November. We will enter ISL as soon as possible.”
The deal comes hot on the heels of Bagan’s arch rivals East Bengal signing a mega partnership with Quess Corp Pvt. Ltd, a Bengaluru-based company, and making a similar commitment to entering ISL.
Quess Corp has taken a 70% .controlling stake in East Bengal.
The Mohun Bagan-Streamcast deal, though announced, has not been signed yet, and the club officials have suggested ink will be put to paper only after 9th September.
Streamcast are an IT solutions company known for providing video streaming and other services. It has been in news over the last year for building some large data centres, including one in Malta worth $75 million.
