Yorkshire sell entire Hundred stake as Sunrisers invest

Yorkshire became the first team to sell all of its shares of a Hundred Team.

The Sun Group, owners of Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad, have paid just over £100m for a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers, who are based at Yorkshire’s home Headingley.

The Sun Group became the first franchise to formally occupy full ownership of a franchise after the Superchargers became the sixth team to do so.

Surrey and the Mumbai Indians’ owners purchased a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles last week for £60 million, while the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) gave them a 51% stake.

Birmingham Phoenix was sold for 49% to Birmingham City owners Knighthead Capital for £40 million, and Glamorgan sold Welsh Fire to IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil for similar amounts for £40 million.

MCC and a Silicon Valley consortium led by Nikesh Arora reached a deal for 70% of the originals with the Lucknow Super Giants owners for about £81 million, which included a price of £145 million for the 49% of Lord’s-based London Spirit.

A 49% stake in Trent Rockets will also be sold by Nottinghamshire.

Evangelos Marinakis, a billionaire Greek shipping mogul with the fortune of Nottingham Forest, made a bid for the Rockets last year.

However, a source close to the deal said Marinakis did not follow up on his initial interest in the Trent Bridge-based franchise.

Nottinghamshire has not made any public bids from the IPL, but at least one unnamed team is said to be interested.

After purchasing hosts Hampshire, Southern Brave are likely to turn to Delhi Capitals’ co-owners.

The six sales so far come to a total of around £466m, the majority of which will be split among the 18 first-class counties, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and recreational game.

This results in a total value of about £740 million for the six teams.

Yorkshire’s sale comes after chair Colin Graves said the club, which is owned by members, must become a private structure in order to survive a financial crisis.

It owes almost £15m to the Graves family trust.

All deals now enter an eight-week exclusivity period in order to finalise the partnerships.