Mumbai Indians owners Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) are set to buy a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles after winning a virtual auction on Thursday afternoon. RIL will enter into a period of exclusivity which will see them negotiate agreements with Surrey, the ECB and their financial advisors before completing the purchase.
ESPNcricinfo understands that RIL submitted the highest bid for a stake in the Invincibles, seeing off competition from a Silicon Valley tech consortium involving the chief executives of Google, Microsoft and Adobe, and private equity firm CVC. The Invincibles, two-time defending champions in the men’s Hundred, are the first team to be sold in the final round of the ECB’s sales process.
The deal will see two heavyweights of their respective markets coming together: Mumbai Indians are widely seen as the most powerful IPL franchise, while Surrey are the richest English county club. The Invincibles will become the sixth team run by RIL, after Mumbai Indians (in both the IPL and WPL), MI New York (MLC), MI Cape Town (SA20) and MI Emirates (ILT20).
RIL, owned by the Ambani family, were widely linked with buying a stake in London Spirit, the Hundred team based at Lord’s, but moved their focus towards the Invincibles as the sales process went on. Surrey have publicly maintained throughout that they intend to retain the 51% share in the Invincibles, which they will be gifted by the ECB as part of the Hundred’s privatisation.
Chairman Oli Slipper told the Surrey’s members last month that the club “must and will retain the controlling stake” in the Invincibles, and that they had been “totally transparent” with prospective investors that this represented a “clear red line” for them. Slipper has previously proposed renaming the team as ‘Surrey Invincibles’ though RIL may have a say in any future rebranding.
Among the unsuccessful bidders for the Invincibles, CVC are also believed to be in contention for a stake in Birmingham Phoenix, which will be up for grabs later on Thursday. The tech consortium, meanwhile, will be in the mix for a stake in London Spirit on Friday but face competition from Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG (the owners of Lucknow Super Giants), Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer, and Cain International.
The winning bid could not be confirmed at the time of publication, but the Invincibles were widely expected to be the second-most expensive franchise behind London Spirit. The ECB and Surrey declined to comment and are not expected to confirm successful bidders until next week.
