Aditya Birla Group and Times of India have purchased Royal Challengers Bengaluru for Rs.16,660 crore, marking the biggest franchise acquisition in IPL history. Top firms AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co, and Morgan Lewis advised on the landmark transaction.
In one of the largest franchise acquisitions in Indian sports, the Aditya Birla Group along with Times of India has bought Royal Challengers Bengaluru for Rs.16,660 crore, marking the biggest-ever deal in the history of the Indian Premier League.
Elite legal teams from multiple top firms AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP advised on various aspects of the transaction.
The transaction team from AZB was led by Senior Partner Roxanne Anderson and supported by Senior Associates Apoorv Chaturvedi, Yashaswi Rohra, Devanshi Patel, along with Associates Zunhaid Tapia, Parvathy Suresh, Shreya Somani and Siri Harish.
The team from Khaitan included Partners Shishir Vayttaden, Kartikeya Prakash, Aashutosh Sampat and Rohan Shrivastava, who jointly advised on corporate, regulatory and transactional components of this large-scale acquisition.
Khaitan & Co Partners Aashutosh Sampat and Rohan Shrivastava represented the Times of India Group, supported by a wider team that included Saloni Mehta Bhandawat, Aman Nayar, Shrey Chhabra, Pavitra Khaitan, Bimbita Kateel, Amogh Pareek and Jay Shah.
The consortium also received advice from several specialist counsels across different practice areas.
For branding and intellectual property issues, guidance came from Nirupam Lodha, Malika Nandkeolyar and Rebecca Cardoso.
Litigation review and related advisory were provided by Manavendra Mishra and Parimal Kaushik.
Labour law-related inputs were given by Vinay Joy, Srishti Ramakrishnan and Aditya Nair.
On data privacy matters, the consortium was advised by Supratim Chakraborty and Shramana Dwibedi.
The antitrust aspects of the deal were handled by Anisha Chand and Armaan Gupta.
On the other side of the transaction, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP acted as legal counsel for Bolt Ventures.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, commonly called RCB and earlier known as Royal Challengers Bangalore, is a professional Twenty20 cricket franchise from Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The team plays in the Indian Premier League and was originally established in 2008 by United Spirits. Their home matches are hosted at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The consortium made up of the Aditya Birla Group, The Times of India Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone’s private equity arm (BXPE) will acquire full ownership and operational control of the RCB franchises, which compete in both the IPL and the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
The involvement of major law firms and cross-border counsel highlights the scale and complexity of the transaction, setting a new benchmark for future sports-related M&A deals in India.