Hampshire County Cricket Club’s majority shareholder is in advanced talks to sell his stake to the part-owners of Indian Premier League team Delhi Capitals.
Telegraph Sport understands that Rod Bransgrove is close to agreeing a deal to sell to GMR Group, who part-own Delhi Capitals.
The deal would be a landmark moment and make Hampshire the first county to be owned by an overseas franchise.
Insiders believe the benefits of buying a county for GMR include a foothold in the English game, an opportunity to develop its own players, and “first-mover advantage” when Hundred franchises are put out for investment. Among the options being explored by the ECB is handing over a 50 per cent share in the Hundred teams – in the Ageas Bowl’s case, Southern Brave – to the host county, to sell to investors if they wish.
According to Back From The Brink, a book about Bransgrove’s time at Hampshire published last year, the business – which includes the Test match hosting Ageas Bowl, a hotel, golf course and the club – was valued at around £100 million, but also carries £60 million of debt.
Bransgrove, widely heralded for saving Hampshire in his 23 years in charge, stepped down as chairman at the end of last year, but remains the majority shareholder – holding more than 60 per cent of the shares – of the business.
Hampshire are one of three counties, along with Northamptonshire and Durham, who are not member-owned which leaves Bransgrove free to sell without fan input. It is expected that more counties could move away from the member-owned model in the coming months at a time of rapid change in the game, however.
Bransgrove, who made his money in pharmaceuticals, has had a transformative effect while leading Hampshire, developing the Ageas Bowl, which will host an Ashes Test for the first time in 2027. It is also scheduled to host Tests in 2029 – against India – and 2030 and, along with the Old Trafford, allowed international cricket to continue being played during the pandemic.
It has been known that he has been seeking to sell his shares in the club for some time, and in an open letter to fans upon stepping down last month, he wrote: “Finally, and importantly, although I am stepping down, I am not leaving. I have an important role now to make sure that our plans for the Ashes 2027 are underpinned by long-term financial security. I promised at the outset that Hampshire Cricket will never again be threatened by insolvency and I intend to fulfil this commitment before I put my feet up.”
GMR have a portfolio of cricket teams around the world. They have a 50 per cent share of Delhi Capitals – in both the IPL and Women’s Premier League – with another Indian conglomerate JSW Group owning the other half. GMR also own Dubai Capitals in the UAE’s ILT20 and a share of Seattle Orcas in the USA’s Major League Cricket. Pretoria Capitals – another subsidiary of the Delhi franchise – in South Africa’s SA20 are owned by JSW.
It is now almost certain that the Hundred, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s controversial short-form tournament will be opened up to private investment later this year and IPL franchises, including the Capitals.
Bransgrove’s successor as chairman and long-time colleague, Nick Pike, discussed potential investment in the Hundred on Wednesday.
“There’s significant money in the game now, particularly in the subcontinent,” he said. “If we don’t recognise that, then we’re playing with our eyes and ears closed.”
It is not the first time Hampshire have had a link to an IPL team. Between 2010 and 2013, Hampshire had a partnership with IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals which saw them play T20 cricket as Hampshire Royals. They are now Hampshire Hawks. Royals are owned by Manoj Badale, the British-Indian businessman who explored buying Yorkshire last year. He also owned a company, Investors In Cricket, who ran the commercial arm of Leicestershire for a period in the 2000s, shortly before the IPL changed the face of the game in 2008.
A spokesperson at Hampshire said: “Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings Ltd has made no secret of the fact that it has been investigating a number of investment options for some time now and, in the course of these investigations, the Company has engaged with a number of parties under conditions of confidentiality.
“Whilst it is true that the Company is fully engaged in some detailed negotiations regarding investment, the nature and content of any such investigations are subject to formal Non-Disclosure Agreements which the Company is bound to observe.
“To date, we have concluded no formal binding agreements other than NDAs. We repeat, therefore, we can make no further comment about the status of our negotiations until such time as we have something to disclose.”
Bransgrove was also contacted for comment.
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