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MUMBAI: Deccan Chronicle Holdings (DHL), the parent company
of IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, is exploring possibilities
of selling the franchise.
The
media company, which runs popular English daily Deccan Chronicle,
has mandated Religare Capital Markets to advise it on offers
that have come for the Hyderabad based IPL team.
 However,
it could not be ascertained whether Deccan is looking at a
minority, majority or an outright sale. The prospect of a
complete exit cannot be ruled out since a Deccan Chargers
official had earlier told Indiantelevision.com that the parent
company was game for it provided the value is right.
“Deccan Chronicle Holdings has been approached by multiple
parties evincing interest in acquiring stake in Deccan Chargers
and the company has appointed Religare Capital Markets to
run a process and advise us of suitability of the offers,”
DCH said.
The
company, however, clarified that the “the above step
is only exploratory and no conclusive or firm decision has
been taken on the issue.”
When
contacted, Deccan Chronicle Holdings vice chairman PK Iyer
refused to get into the details. “I don’t have any
comments to make on the matter," he said.
This
is not the first time that DCH has mandated an investment
bank to find suitors. In 2008, DCH had appointed KPMG Corporate
Finance and was looking at a valuation of $250 million including
the option to exit at the right price.
However,
the company had to put the franchise sale on slow burner since
it did not find many takers at that price which only accentuated
with the economic slowdown of 2009.
Deccan
Chargers Sporting Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of DHL,
had bought the franchise rights of Hyderabad IPL franchise
for $107.01 million which was payable over a 10-year period.
IPL
teams have often been in the news for being approached by
investors who see business opportunity in the cash rich league
despite the fall of its brand value due to controversies surrounding
it.
Rajasthan
Royals and Kings XI Punjab have also reportedly been on the
lookout for buyers, though the teams have refused to talk
about it publicly.
Recently,
Kolkata-based Jain Group was said to be in talks with Royals
to acquire the franchise at a valuation of $200 million. However,
things did not materialise and the deal fell through.
Similarly,
Punjab team was in 2010 approached by Videocon Group to buy
the franchise whose investors include Dabur’s Mohit Burman,
Wadia Group’s Ness Wadia, actress Priety Zinta, and Karan
Paul of Apeejay Surendra Group.
It
is believed that the two franchises have to get BCCI’s
permission to sell stake since both are currently engaged
in arbitration with the cricket board.
The
BCCI had in 2010 terminated franchise agreements of the two
teams. However, both were successfully reinstated after legal
battle.
Incidentally,
Videocon Group couldn’t manage to get an IPL franchise
as the bidding process to identify the two new teams was cancelled.
The company was keen on Pune franchise which is currently
owned by Sahara Group.
Also
Read:
Deccan
Chargers mandates KPMG to find suitor, eyes $250 million valuation
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