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Following a story in the Telegraph that GMR Group, the
co-owners of Delhi Capitals, are in advanced talks with Rod Bransgrove about
purchasing his part in the club’s parent company, Hampshire has acknowledged
that they are “fully engaged in some detailed negotiations” with
investors.
Nick Pike has replaced Bransgrove, who prevented
Hampshire from going bankrupt in 2000, as the cricket club’s chair. However,
Bransgrove continues to serve as the club’s parent business, Hampshire Sport
& Leisure Holdings Ltd.’s chair and significant stakeholder.
After Bransgrove acquired the club, Hampshire was a
members’ club before becoming a public limited company. Today, the corporation
is worth over £100 million, yet it has £61 million in debt. As per Ivo
Tennant’s biography Back from the Brink, Bransgrove declined a large offer from
“a very successful businessman” for the club in 2022.
Bransgrove is “close to agreeing a deal” to
sell his shares to GMR Group, who jointly own Delhi Capitals with JSW Group,
according to a report published in The Telegraph on Wednesday night. GMR Group
also control Dubai Capitals in the UAE’s ILT20 and are part-owners of Seattle
Orcas in Major League Cricket.
“Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings Ltd has
made no secret of the fact that it has been investigating a number of
investment options for some time now and, in the course of these
investigations, the Company has engaged with a number of parties under
conditions of confidentiality,” a Hampshire spokesperson said.
“Whilst it is true that the Company is fully
engaged in some detailed negotiations regarding investment, the nature and
content of any such investigations are subject to formal Non-Disclosure
Agreements which the Company is bound to observe.
“To date, we have concluded no formal binding
agreements other than NDAs. We repeat, therefore, we can make no further
comment about the status of our negotiations until such time as we have
something to disclose.”