New Delhi: Owners of Rajasthan Royals, the team that won the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, have sold a 12% stake to London-based entrepreneur Raj Kundra and his partner, Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, in a deal that values the Jaipur franchise at $140 million (about Rs680 crore) .

At that valuation, the stake bought by the two would be worth $16.8 million. “This is a significant valuation given that we had bought the team for $67 million,” said Raghu Iyer, chief marketing officer, Rajasthan Royals.

A big chunk of the new investment will be used to fund new marketing initiatives, which include a DVD that documents the team’s rise to fame in season one of IPL, and a Bollywood film featuring Rajasthan Royals. The money will be used to procure new players and stage matches with local clubs in the UK and in Australia.

“The selling of this stake is part of our long-term strategic approach to build the Rajasthan Royals into a global sports brand,” said Manoj Badale, chairman, Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd, owner of the franchise.

He added that the investment would enhance the “off-field commercial potential of a brand already recognized throughout India and much of the global cricketing world.” “Last season was very much about cricket and conquering the hearts of people in India… season two will be about conquering our global ambitions,” Badale said.

Kundra is chief executive of Essential General Trading LLC, a Dubai-based trading company dealing in precious metals, construction, mining and green renewable energy projects. Shetty has invested in the venture in her capacity as the chief executive officer of S2 Global Productions Pvt Ltd., which is her home film production company.

“It’s a strategic business investment. I always support the underdogs as I am myself one. Rajasthan Royals were the underdogs in IPL before they succeeded (in winning the title)”, Shetty told a media conference held in Mumbai on Tuesday. Some reports recently said Rajasthan Royals was looking at raising funds through an initial public offering. Iyer said the funds raised from the stake sale will take care of the team’s immediate capital requirements. “We aren’t looking for a listing right now, but it isn’t ruled out for future,” Iyer added.
Source: livemint.com

Melbourne: Australian allrounder Shane Watson, who has been ruled out of action for the next six weeks because of a stress fracture in his back, is eyeing a return to competitive cricket at the Indiian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition.

Watson said he will be back bowling a lot quicker than he expected after a stress fracture of the back was set to prevent him playing as an all-rounder for six months.

He is aiming a comeback to cricket through the IPL, and plans to use that as a platform to convince the selectors before they pick the team for the Ashes series in England.

“That’s definitely the goal at the moment, and a realistic goal,” Watson said yesterday.

“The IPL will be a good way to just gradually build up your workload.”

In fact, it was in the inaugural season of the IPL that Watson made claims for a comeback to international cricket, after being laid low by a series of injuries that had kept him out of international cricket for over a year.
Source : cricketnirvana.com

Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd has officially admitted that it is looking to sell its IPL franchise, Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers. The Hyderabad based media company has given the mandate to KPMG Corporate Finance to advise on the sale.

The company informed the BSE that KPMG Corporate Finance was mandated to run the process to identify the strategic buyers for Deccan Chargers. Earlier media reports suggested that Australia-based NRI industrialist Vikas Rambal could be one of the potential buyers for a majority stake in Deccan Chargers. An 80% stake in the franchise is held by the publishing house, and the remaining 20% is held by Group M, the media arm of the ad conglomerate WPP.

Earlier reports have indicated that Deccan Chronicle may sell its entire stake for anywhere between $175-200 million. This might still be a premium of 55-70 percent over its acquisition price. Deccan acquired the franchise for $107 million and has paid about $5.8 million as players fees.

The team also paid Andrew Symonds $1.35 million, making him the highest paid player in the league. However Deccan Chargers could not make it in the recent IPL, and they finished at the bottom of the table. Also since then there has been a change of guard at Deccan Chargers with Adam Gilchrist replacing VVS Laxman as the team captain and Robin Sharma being fired as the team coach, the things are likely to change at the team. With some of the franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals managing to break even or even spinning a profit, the IPL franchise is turning out to be a lucrative business opportunity..

Vikas Rambal, who is sponsoring Champions League Twenty20 side Waca Warriors, is the chairman of Australia’s North West Chemicals and Fertilizers. He had expressed interest in buying an IPL team.

Besides Deccan Chargers, Rajasthan Royals, the IPL champions backed by UK based investment group Blenheim Chalcot, is another franchise which is looking for investment.

A lot of corporates have also showed interest in having their own teams. Sahara Group was said to be interested in Kanpur team and Reliance ADAG in a Ahmedabad team. Future Group is also said to be interested in buying a team. Some banks and financial institutions have also showed an interest in buying IPL team. Some of the names doing the rounds during bidding process included ICICI Venture, Sequoia Capital and India Value Fund. Also international players like Providence, Macquire Bank, DE Shaw, Deutsche Bank, Alcazar & Engelfield have also showed interest.

Since IPL might allow new teams only after a couple of years, this is the only opportunity to buy a team.

Source: contentsutra.com

A fragile all-rounder whose progress has been hampered by umpteen injury breakdowns, Shane Watson believes he has put behind the nightmares and profusely thanks the Indian Premier League (IPL) for resurrecting his stop-start career.

Back in the mix again, Watson believes he is through with his quota of slings and arrows and his career is finally back on track largely because of IPL.

“It came at the right time for me, no doubt about that,” the strapping blond, standing at a towering 1.83m, said.

“It was of international level. Playing for the Rajasthan Royals was a great opportunity for me and that too under the great Shane Warne. It was a true testament of your calibre and I was simply privileged to be part of IPL,” gushed the all-rounder, who missed the warm-up match against Board President’s XI because of viral fever.

Watson also took the opportunity to thank his charismatic captain-cum-coach at Rajasthan Royals.

“Shane was amazing. He provided me the right opportunity and instilled confidence in all the members. He was simply superb as a captain,” said Watson, who was judged the Most Valuable Player in IPL.

Watson doesn’t hesitate to admit that he also benefited from all-rounder Andrew Symonds’ absence, which paved the way for his Test recall.

“No doubt about that. At number six, Symonds was doing a great job. I don’t know what would have happened had he been part of the squad. But this is an opportunity for me and I have to make the most of it,” he said with a palpable sense of urgency.

Despite being around for six years, Watson has played just three Test matches so far, in contrast to his 72 ODI appearances and the swashbuckler reckons he faces a new challenge in the longer version of the game.

“Test matches are different ball game altogether. When the ball starts turning from day four, you know it’s a different challenge for you. But I’m here to put my best foot forward and help Australia win the series,” he said.

Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh tipped Watson to be Australia’s first genuine all-rounder since Keith Miller but umpteen stress fractures, back niggles, hamstring and calf injuries saw the youngster rehabilitating more than playing.

Watson, however, believes he had never been in better shape and hopes his career is finally ready to take off.

“My body often let me down, especially whenever I thought I had an opportunity. It was really frustrating to spend time in rehabs when you should have gone out to play. In fact it was my injury that allowed Symonds to cement his place in the side.

“But I believe I have come out of that phase. I know the conditions here and I’m in great shape. I believe I’m giving myself the best chance to finally live up to the expectation here,” added the all-rounder.
Source: beta.cricket.yahoo.com

New Delhi, September 29: VVS Laxman, who led the Deccan Chargers in the inaugural Indian Premier League season, was on Monday replaced by former Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist to ‘re-unite the outstanding talent’ of the team which ended at the bottom despite its star-studded line-up.

Laxman had drawn criticism from his team member Shahid Afridi who said Twenty20 cricket was not the forte of the Indian batsman after the team managed only two wins from their 14 matches with the likes of Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris and Rohit Sharma in its ranks.”Adam Gilchrist commands respect within the team and right around the cricket world. He has redefined the role of wicketkeeper/batsman in modern cricket,” said Tim Wright, Chief Executive of Deccan Chargers in a statement issued in New Delhi.

“I am confident Adam Gilchrist will unite Deccan Chargers’ outstanding talent. Four members of our squad were on the India tour of Sri Lanka, more than any other IPL team, and the quality of our overseas players is well known. These players will play for Gilchrist,” he added.Gilchrist, who averaged 47.60 runs in 96 Test Matches and 35.89 runs in 287 One-Day Internationals, helped Australia win the World Cup three times.The wicketkeeper-batsman holds the world Test record for number of sixes hit (100) and has claimed 472 dismissals behind the stumps.

Adam Gilchrist said, “It’s a tremendous thrill and honour to become captain of the Deccan Chargers. I look forward to working hard with everybody towards making the team successful.”

Source:expressindia.com