• Source:JND
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Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the owners of the Mumbai Indians franchise, has secured a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles, a franchise in England's The Hundred competition. The acquisition comes after a fiercely contested virtual auction, where RIL emerged victorious over a Silicon Valley tech consortium and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

According to a report by ESPNCricinfo, the winning bid values the Oval Invincibles franchise at £123 million, meaning RIL’s investment will amount to just over £60 million for its minority stake. The Indian conglomerate has now entered an exclusivity period to finalize agreements with Surrey County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and financial advisors before completing the purchase.

Reliance Industries, owned by the Ambani family, has been actively expanding its presence in global cricket beyond the Indian Premier League (IPL). The company already owns MI Cape Town (SA20), MI Emirates (ILT20), and teams in the Major League Cricket (USA).

The virtual auction saw stiff competition, with RIL fending off bids from a high-profile Silicon Valley tech consortium consisting of the chief executives of Google, Microsoft, and Adobe. Another contender in the bidding war was CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm that owns Gujarat Titans in the IPL.

Mumbai Indians are one of the most successful IPL franchises while Surrey are the richest English county club.

Oval Invincibles, the two-time defending champions in the men's Hundred, became the first team to be sold in the final round of the ECB's sales process.

After the acquisition, Oval Invincibles will become the sixth team under RIL's management, joining Mumbai Indians (IPL and WPL), MI New York (MLC), MI Cape Town (SA20), and MI Emirates (ILT20).

"RIL were widely linked with buying a stake in London Spirit, the Hundred team based at Lord's, but moved their focus towards the Invincibles as the sales process went on," the report said.

"Host venues were given the option to sell some of the 51% stake that they will be gifted by the ECB as part of the privatisation process."

However, according to the report Surrey have held firm on their stance that they will retaining their controlling shares.

Inputs from PTI