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The billionaire Ambani family won the bidding battle for a stake in the Oval Invincibles cricket team in London, after interest from private equity firms and Silicon Valley executives.
The Indian family, which also own the Mumbai Indians franchise in their home country’s lucrative league, will take a 49% holding in the team, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Along with London Spirit, Oval Invincibles is seen as one of the most valuable franchises in the new, short-form Hundred competition because it plays its home matches in the capital. The value of the Ambanis’ winning bid was unclear on Thursday.
English cricket launched a process last year to auction off stakes in the eight teams across England and Wales in a bid to boost the sport’s finances domestically and grow the Hundred, which began in 2021. The Oval stake sale is the first to be agreed.
After several months of bidding, the shortlist was whittled down to three by Surrey, the host venue, pitting the Ambanis against CVC Capital Partners and a consortium of Silicon Valley chief executive officers including Alphabet Inc.’s Sundar Pichai. A live auction on Thursday resulted in the Ambanis coming out on top for Oval.
Securing the Ambanis’ involvement is a crucial first step in potentially convincing the Indian cricket authorities to allow its homegrown players to take part in the Hundred, boosting its TV viewing figures. They are currently not permitted to participate in overseas tournaments.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is selling the 49% stakes it owns in each of the teams, while the host venues can decide to keep their 51% stakes or sell all or part of them. The auction is being run by Raine Group, the investment bank that previously advised on the sale of Manchester United and Chelsea football clubs.
The Hundred sees each side face 100 balls, a shorter game designed to attract new audiences with simpler rules and half-time entertainment.
Like most of the majority Hundred team owners, Surrey is owned by its members. The storied county club — founded in 1845 — was previously reported to be keen to hold on to its 51% stake in the Hundred franchise to retain control, rather than sell off more to the new investment partners. The Oval team includes Surrey’s England player Sam Curran.
The final auction for London Spirit takes place on Friday, with interest from a vehicle controlled by Chelsea FC co-owner Todd Boehly.
The Ambani family and the ECB declined to comment.
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