To further increase the glam and glitz of cricket through Indian Premier League, at least three of the ten IPL teams (Including the new teams Pune and Kochi) are planning to go for either Initial Public Offerings (IPO) or to sell the stakes of the club to new partners who are ready to invest.
A lot of fresh investment in hundreds of crores will flow in coming months as there will also be fresh player auctions in September and October. As per IPL rules, for first three years no owner can exit by selling its entire stake. This is the completion of third year and one can expect the selling of stakes, said Investment Banking sources.
First in the race for IPO would be Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni owned by India Cements. Kings XI Punjab, which is owned by a consortium of promoters including Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta is also learnt to be keen on divesting if it gets the right price.
New Pune club owned by Sahara Adventure Sports after investing Rs. 1,702 crores is also looking for either an IPO or selling a minor stake to strategic partner. So, cricket is getting its new shine and the game is getting too much into financials. Will, this do any good to cricket? Let us wait and see.