English county cricket side Hampshire is close to being taken over by the GMR Group, joint owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Delhi Capitals, it has been reported.
Various UK media outlets – starting with a report in The Telegraph – have claimed that a £120 million ($152.8 million) deal – which would include Hampshire's current debt of £60 million – has already been struck.
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However, the BBC has today cited a source at Hampshire as saying that a final agreement has not yet been reached, with potential for completion in a matter of weeks.
The deal – which would also include Hampshire’s current home venue, the Utilita Bowl – is still to be ratified by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) governing body.
The Utilita Bowl is now a regular host of major England matches and is set to stage its first-ever Ashes test – from the iconic quadrennial series against Australia – in 2027.
While the ECB is looking to sell off potentially majority stakes in teams from the short-format Hundred domestic competition, the sale of a whole county club such as Hampshire to overseas investors was not necessarily expected.
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By GlobalDataA three-month auction through which outside investors can acquire stakes in The Hundred franchises will begin in September.
Indeed, media reports have stated that the GMR Group-Hampshire deal also includes the sale of a 49% stake in Southern Brave, the Hundred franchise which plays at the Utilita Bowl.
GMR Group has run the Delhi Capitals as 50% owners since the team’s launch in February 2008. The group also owns stakes in various other Twenty20 franchises around the world, including a team in India’s Women’s Premier League, the Pretoria Capitals from South Africa, the Dubai Capitals in the UAE, and the Seattle Orcas from Major League Cricket in the US.
It has also been reported that the GMR Group's bid for Hampshire and the Southern Brave came out on top over a rival submission from the owners of the IPL's Lucknow Super Giants.
Such a deal would put Hampshire as the first of English professional cricket’s 18 county clubs to be owned by an overseas group. The team has been run by majority shareholder Rod Bransgrove since 2000.
However, last year saw Bransgrove announce that he would be standing down from that role, after 23 years in charge.
As well as the team and the Utilita Bowl, any GMR Group deal for Hampshire would likely include a hotel and golf course next to the ground.
