Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB ) has been officially put on sale as per the disclosure made by the owners Diageo of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchise. It
is understood that Diageo has already initiated the process of selling the franchise apart from being confident about completing it by March 31, 2026, when the new season of the IPL will be underway in all likelihood.
As per the report published in Cricbuzz, Diageo, the UK-based company, made the communication to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday, November 5, calling it “Strategic Review of the Investment Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL)”, which is a wholly owned company of United Spirits Ltd, the Indian Subsidiary of Diageo. Notably, RCB won the IPL for the first-time ever earlier this year after defeating Punjab Kings in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The disclosure on the matter from Diageo also read, “The USL is initiating a strategic review of the investment in its wholly owned subsidiary, RCSPL. RCSPL's business comprises ownership of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise team that participate in the men's Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women's Premier League (WPL) cricket tournaments hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) annually.”
RCB won the IPL for the first-time earlier this year before trophy celebrations turned sour
Diageo and USL, in their covering letter to stock exchange, also mentioned that the disclosure is under regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligation and Disclosure Requirement), which also pointed out that the sale process of the franchise “will conclude by March 31, 2026”. The potential reason for RCB getting sold despite winning the IPL earlier this year could be related to how the trophy celebrations turned catastrophic outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru the next day, wherein a stampede led to multiple deaths and injuries.
Moreover, the Managing Director and CEO of USL, Praveen Someswar, remarked on the matter, “RCSPL has been a valuable and strategic asset for USL. However, it is non-core to our alcobev business. This step reinforces USL's and Diageo's commitment to continue reviewing its India enterprise portfolio to enable sustained delivery of long-term value to all its stakeholders, while keeping RCSPL's best interest in mind.”
