New Bidder Likely To Join RCB Ownership Race? Report Reveals Fresh Twist

Blackstone Inc. is considering whether to buy a stake in the world's most lucrative professional cricket league through its fund for wealthy individuals, in what would be the first sports investment for the world's biggest alternative asset manager. The firm has weighed committing $200 million to $300 million through its Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund for either of the two Indian Premier League teams currently up for sale - the Rajasthan Royals and the 2025 IPL champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru - according to people familiar with the matter.

The investment from BXPE, as the fund is known, will allow Blackstone to hold the stake for longer than it would using a traditional draw-down fund, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential deliberations. A representative for the New York-based firm declined to comment.

More private equity managers are looking to invest in sports franchises and leagues, lured by lucrative deals for media rights and a limited supply of valuable or sought-after teams. KKR & Co. recently acquired Arctos Partners, an institutional sports investor that owns stakes in teams including the National Football League's Buffalo Bills and Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, and Carlyle Group Inc. announced a deal last year with Formula One's Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Final bids for the Royal Challengers were submitted this week, including one from EQT AB and the family office of billionaire Wipro founder Azim Premji and another from a consortium led by Manipal Hospitals billionaire Ranjan Pai, the people said. Potential buyers are still evaluating the Rajasthan Royals stake sale, they said.

Unlike original team sales by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which required the money to be paid over 10 years, new buyers will have to do so upfront, the people said. The latest stake sales could value the two teams at $1.3 billion to $2 billion.

IPL is the world's most popular and lucrative cricket league, combining US-style marketing with Bollywood glitz. Billions of dollars rest on the IPL, which runs for just eight weeks each spring as 10 teams jostle for the top position. Team owners include Mukesh Ambani, India's richest person, and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

A stake in an IPL team gives owners visibility among consumers in one of the world's fastest-growing wealth markets, with an estimated 917,000 millionaires and 188 billionaires, according to UBS Group AG.

BXPE invests about 30% of its assets in independent transactions that aren't part of its main private equity funds, including Elon Musk's SpaceX.

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