Venkateshwara Hatcheries, better known as Venky’s, is close to becoming the first Indian company to own an English Premier League (EPL) football club. The Pune-headquartered poultry major will spend £46 million (around Rs 320 crore) to buy the 135-year-old Blackburn Rovers, based in the northern English town of Blackburn.
“We are in discussions for the ownership of Blackburn Rovers. The promoters of Venky’s will be investing in their personal capacity,” said Venky’s India Joint MD B Venkatesh Rao. The deal, expected to be sealed next month, will involve an upfront payment.
Blackburn Rovers Chairman John Williams said, “A series of meetings, including discussions with the EPL, have followed an extensive due diligence process. Both parties are hopeful that the transaction will be completed in November.”
Blackburn Rovers has debts of around £16 million in its books. The club was an EPL champion in the 1994-95 season. However, it has since slipped to 14th position among the 20 teams that participate in the EPL. In the last two decades, the EPL trophy has been shared between Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, barring the one season when it was bagged by Blackburn.
The EPL is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 matches each, totalling 380 matches in the season. EPL is the world’s most lucrative football league, with combined club revenues of £2.096 billion (around Rs 14,000 crore) in 2008–09.
Both foreign football clubs and Indian firms have sought to promote football in India, given the sport’s rising popularity and growing business opportunities. Chelsea FC has been in talks with several companies to promote the game in the hope that India can seek to host the World Cup by 2030. “For the past six months, we have been in discussions with 10 top corporate houses,” confirmed Chelsea’s head of marketing, Ben Wells, last month on a visit to India.
Venky’s move comes after several attempts by domestic companies to own EPL teams. Sahara India Group earlier this year placed a bid to buy a 51 per cent stake in cash-strapped Liverpool, one of the most successful clubs in the history of EPL. However, Sahara had pulled out of the race in August. Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil have also been keen on owning Liverpool and Newcastle United, respectively, but denied making any bids.
If the Venky’s acquisition goes through, it would make Blackburn the latest EPL club to have foreign ownership. Earlier this month in a highly-publicised and controversial move, Liverpool was bought by the owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team of the US.
