Shareholding of all franchisees to be made public, says Lalit Modi.
The shareholding pattern of all franchisees of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket series will be made public soon. This decision of IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, announced today, has been supported by most of the current franchisees.
Modi said that he would make the shareholding details of all the teams public after the Twenty20 tournament is over.
“Everybody knows who are the owners of our earlier eight franchises and we will make their shareholding public soon,” he said at a press meet in Mumbai.
When asked whether they will have any issue if the shareholding of their team was disclosed , R Srinivasan joint president-finance of Chennai Superkings said : “India Cements(which controls the franchisee) is already a listed company and we do not see any problem.”
A top executive in Rajasthan Royals, which has come under scrutiny because Modi’s relatives own substantial equity in the team, said: “If a rule applies to all teams, then we are okay with it. There should not be any favouritism or discrepancies. It’s good that no team is being singled out”. Modi’s brother-in-law (the husband of the sister of his wife) Suresh Chellaram — a businessman based in Nigeria — is the largest shareholder of the team.
The GMR group — which owns Delhi Daredevils — also had a similar view. Said B Vanchi, advisor corporate strategy for the group: “We are already a listed company and everything is transparent. So, we have nothing to worry about.”
The same view was echoed by a senior executive in Kolkata Knight Riders. “Clarity on shareholding is good if it applies to all teams”.
On Tuesday, the consortium led by Rendezvous Sports — which put in the winning bid for Kochi — had objected to its shareholding details being made public by Modi, saying it was a breach of the franchise agreement.
Modi also hit back at the consortium, explaining why he had asked them for more details. “People who submitted the bid documents did not know who they were representing,” he said.
Eyebrows have been raised at the shareholding of Sunanda Pushkar, a close associate of minister of state Shashi Tharoor, in the Kochi consortium.
Shailendra Gaikwad, another member of the Kochi consortium, based in Solapur, clarified that he had been offered “sweat equity” instead of salary to work for the team. He also said immediately after winning the franchise, there was an upfront offer of $50 million. “We were offered $50 million to give up our claim to the Kochi franchise,” he said.
Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) had emerged as a surprise winner for the Kochi franchise last month, when the bidding for two new teams for the IPL’s 2011 season was held in Chennai. Five companies were in the fray for the new teams: Adani, Videocon, RSW, Cyrus Poonawalla with builder Ajay Shirke, and the Sahara group.
RSW had placed its bid for the Kochi franchise at $333 million (Rs 1,533 crore). Sahara bid $370 million (Rs 1,702 crore) and won the Pune franchise. Videocon and Adani had bid at $320 million and $315 million, respectively, for the Pune and Ahmedabad franchise but had failed to qualify.
