The Board of Control for Cricket in India has terminated the Deccan Chargers franchise from the Indian Premier League for failing to provide a bank guarantee before the deadline.
Earlier in the day, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, the team owner, announced that it had sold the franchise to Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holdings Ltd. It did not disclose details of the sale.
The deal hit a road block after Deccan Chronicle Holdings failed to meet today’s 5 p.m. deadline to provide a Rs 100-crore bank guarantee to the BCCI, which consequently terminated the franchise. The Bombay High Court had declined to grant more time to Deccan Chronicle Holdings to provide a Rs 100-crore bank guarantee to the BCCI.
In September, the BCCI had terminated Deccan Chronicle’s franchise after it expressed doubts over the owner’s ability to meet its commitments.
This afternoon, Deccan Chronicle Holdings announced to the exchanges that at a meeting on Thursday its board resolved to sell its Deccan Chargers to Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holdings Private Limited. The board recorded the preliminary understanding between the company and Kamla Landmarc on the proposed deal.
Little is known of Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holdings. The company’s web site says Kamla Landmarc was established by Ramesh Chhouthmal Jain in 1974 and is into residential and commercial projects in Mumbai. As of March 31, 2010, Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holdings’ authorised share capital was Rs 1 crore and the subscribed and paid-up capital Rs 1.50 lakh.
The BCCI tried in vain to auction the franchise in September. PVP Ventures, a Hyderabad-based company, was the sole bidder but the team owners rejected the Rs 900-crore bid. BCCI terminated the bid then, following which the team owners went to court and got a month’s time.
It is learned from reliable sources, over the last one week the owners were once again negotiating with PVP Ventures.
According to a source close to the negotiations, PVP Ventures had raised its offer to about Rs 1,000 crore.The final sale price may have even been bigger, according to the source.