CHENNAI: After some oblique references in past few months, the Serun Institute of India CEO, Adar Poonawaala, on Thursday made a strong intent of buying the Royal Challengers Benglauru franchise. "Over the next few months, will be putting in a STRONG and COMPETITIVE bid for @RCBTweets, one of the best teams in the IPL," Poonawaala posted on X (formerly known as twitter).
This comes months after his initial indication in October when Poonawaala had shared a cryptic post saying, "At the right valuation, @RCBTweets is a great team…" If he does go on to secure the franchise, it remains to be seen if Poonawaala will make moves to take the franchise away from the city of its birth.
Following their IPL triumph in 2025, Diageo, the parent company of United Spirits Ltd, made a formal disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange about a "strategic review' of its ownership. It meant RCB was always going to be put up for sale as a non-core asset with the process potentially expected to complete in March 2026.
This decision came on the back of two successful years — first IPL title in 2025 which was preceded by a Women's Premier League win in 2024 — with RCB being the most valuable franchise in the league. Houlilan Lokey, the global investment bank, said in its study in 2025 pegged the side's brand value at $269mn, $27mn higher than Mumbai Indians. Apart from Poonawaala, JSW, and Adani Groups were also rumoured to be interested in buying the franchise over the last few months. Nikhil Kamath, an Indian entrepreneur (Zerodha co-founder) with strong links to Karnataka, was also said to be interested but most of the other players have stayed away .
The next couple of months will paint a clearer picture.