Hampshire to become first county with overseas owner
Hampshire will become the first English county cricket club to be owned by an overseas franchise after signing an acquisition agreement with Indian conglomerate GMR Group.
According to the deal, GMR’s parent company (GGPL) has agreed on a “phased acquisition” of Hampshire’s parent company along with an initial reduction of their debt.
GGPL will initially acquire a majority stake in Hampshire, who number Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen and Barry Richards among their former star players, with a complete 100% takeover expected in the next two years.
GMR group owns teams in various Twenty-20 leagues, including the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL), Dubai Capitals in International League Twenty-20 (ILT20) and Pretoria Capitals in South Africa 20(SA20).
It seems very possible that the white ball teams associated with Hampshire, Southern Brave (Hundred) and Hamphire Hawks (T20 Blast), may be rebranded with Capitals in their name.
“This is the fulfilment of a dream for me and, I hope, for all Hampshire cricket supporters,” Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings Group’s chairman Rod Bransgrove said in a statement.
“Becoming the first English cricket club to join an international cricket group will open exciting new opportunities as we embrace the globalisation of this great sport.”
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