English cricket completed arguably its greatest transformation in living memory on Wednesday after Southern Brave became the eighth and final franchise to be bought in the landmark Hundred sale.
As expected, Hampshire’s owners GMR Group – co-owners of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League – have secured the 49% stake that was on offer from the England and Wales Cricket Board. It means the county, previously gifted 51% by the ECB, will take full control of Southern Brave once the final details are ironed out.
The value of this deal – and thus the overall valuation for Southern Brave – is still to be established. But after a 49% stake in Trent Rockets was secured by Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s Cain International on Tuesday for a tick under £40m, the overall valuation of the eight teams is likely to be approaching a combined £1bn.
Hampshire’s status as a privately-owned county made the Southern Brave deal unique among the eight teams being sold off. It also means four of the eight Hundred franchises now have investment from IPL teams following deals for Northern Superchargers (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Manchester Originals (Lucknow Super Giants) and Oval Invincibles (Mumbai Indians).
Richard Thompson, the ECB chair, previously stated he did not want the Hundred sale to become “an IPL takeover” and should be satisfied with the outcome after Birmingham Phoenix (Knighthead Capital), Welsh Fire (Tech entrepreneur Sanjay Govil), London Spirit (Silicon Valley consortium) and Trent Rockets (Cain) all attracted investment from elsewhere.
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More details soon …
