Yorkshire set to sell entire Hundred stake in reported £100m deal

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

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

It is understood the group followed 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.

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.

“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.

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.”