The Hundred: Yorkshire set to sell entire stake in Northern Superchargers after reported £100m deal agreed | Cricket News

Yorkshire are set to become the first county to sell an entire 100 per cent stake in their Hundred team, after agreeing a reported £100m deal with the owners of Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Group, which also owns Sunrisers Eastern Cape in South Africa’s T20 league, saw off rival bidders for an initial 49 per cent of the Headingley-based Northern Superchargers.

It is understood the group followed up by striking a deal for Yorkshire’s 51 per cent host’s share, giving them sole control of the Superchargers.

The team has yet to taste any tangible success in four seasons of the competition, but boasts international star quality in the form of men’s head coach Andrew Flintoff and star players like Harry Brook, Adil Rashid and Kate Cross.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has now auctioned off shares in six of its eight city-based sides, with the running tally of new money up to around £450m pending the finalisation of terms.

An estimated £145m of that came from a Silicon Valley consortium that won a bidding war for Lord’s-based London Spirit, while three of the successful bidders are IPL affiliated groups including RPSG (Lucknow Super Giants) at Manchester Originals and Reliance (Mumbai Indians) partnering with Surrey at Oval Invincibles.

Money raised from the ECB’s 49 per cent holdings will be shared 19 ways, between all 18 first-class counties as well as a donation to the recreational game, with the hosts benefiting from the other 51 per cent.

In Yorkshire’s case their Indian windfall should help cure longstanding financial troubles that have, at times, cast doubt over the viability of their business.

The shadow of a £15m debt to the Graves family trust has long hung over Yorkshire but may now be cleared in one fell swoop, staving off plans to demutualise the club and end its status as a members’ club.

Yorkshire’s chief executive Sanjay Patel, who formerly served as managing director of The Hundred, welcomed the news, adding: “We are delighted to be entering into an exclusivity period with the SUN Group, and will be continuing our conversations with them in the coming weeks with a view to setting the Northern Superchargers up for long-term and sustained success.

“Having been in consultation with them for some time now, it is clear that they are aligned to the values and future direction of the club and will play a huge part in ensuring we can go on to achieve great success in the coming years.

“Today is clearly a huge milestone for Yorkshire CCC, the Northern Superchargers and the Sun Group, but it is worth stressing that there is a lot of detail to be discussed alongside further due diligence and legal processes before a contract can be signed.”

The Superchargers auction was pushed from its initial spot on Tuesday, allowing unsuccessful bidders from earlier sessions to reopen negotiations with Yorkshire, a move intended to maximise the bottom line.

Trent Rockets and Southern Brave will be up for grabs in the coming days, with the latter likely to be taken on by Hampshire owners GMR, meaning another 100 per cent owner.

Warwickshire, meanwhile, have spoken publicly for the first time since Knighthead Capital Management – the New York-based firm who already own Birmingham City – won the race to invest in Birmingham Phoenix.

Chief executive Stuart Cain said: “Throughout the process Knighthead demonstrated a strong financial commitment and a deep understanding of what it takes to elevate high-performance sport.

“They have far-reaching global influence that will help us promote Birmingham Phoenix to cricket and sport fans around the world and a wealth of sports investment experience.

“We’d said at the start of this process that we wanted an investor committed to invest in the region and be with us for the long term, to make a real difference.

“I believe we’ve found that in Knighthead and we look forward to working with them during this exclusivity period.”