MI, KKR and SRH among IPL franchises bidding for stake in Hundred teams

Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants are among the IPL franchises that have submitted bids expressing interest to buy teams in the ECB-run Hundred.

ESPNcricinfo has learned that the GMR Group, recently unveiled as the new owner of Hampshire, and Avram Glazer, co-owner of Manchester United Football Club, also submitted bids last week after the ECB set an October 18 deadline for potential investors to register their interest in buying stakes in the eight Hundred teams.

The bids submitted last week by potential investors is a one-time sum to buy a 49% stake, which the ECB holds in each of the eight teams. Expressions of interest could be for all eight teams, which would be culled to four in the next step which will start in November when the investors get to meet the host counties of each Hundred franchise. Following that, investors would need to prune their wishlist to four teams, as part of the second stage, which will then come down to two teams of which they would need to make their final choice.

While the ECB is keen to announce the final set of investors by early 2025, it has stressed that it won't be rushed and risk "underselling" what it believes is a valuable product. Recently, ECB chairman Richard Thompson said the board would even be open to adopting a hybrid model next year. This would mean the ECB owning some teams and private players the others.

Still, not everyone rushed to bid as the October 18 deadline closed. While virtually all IPL teams had shown curiosity in the Hundred a few months ago, not all have submitted bids. Punjab Kings have opted out of bidding for Hundred teams, while there has been no confirmation on whether five-times IPL champions Chennai Super Kings and equity major CVC, which owns Gujarat Titans, have submitted bids.

Global sports investors INEOS, owned by Jim Ratcliffe, which owns a 27% stake in Manchester United and run the football club's operations wing, have also opted out of bidding.

Among the biggest reservations, at least as far as the IPL franchises were concerned, was whether they would be happy being passive investors.

Recently, Lalit Modi, the architect of the IPL, rebuked the ECB's financial projections for the Hundred's growth beyond 2026, as listed in the prospectus distributed to potential investors, calling them "overly optimistic and disconnected from reality."

But the ECB brushed off the criticism, saying over 100 potential investors from not just India but also the USA had sought information on the privatisation. "The investment base is way broader and bigger than they expected," Thompson said last wek.