The money behind the money: How the $1.78 billion RCB deal is being financed
Three weeks after Diageo agreed to sell Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.78 billion, the consortium buying it is still raising the funds part of the money. The State of Play reveals how, and who is being asked to write the cheques.
On March 24, United Spirits Limited slipped a brief filing onto the Bombay Stock Exchange website. Buried in the legalese was a jolt: Diageo was selling Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), reigning champions of both the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Women’s Premier League (WPL), one of Indian sport’s most followed teams, to a four-member consortium for $1.78 billion, or Rs 16,600 crore.
The announcement did what such notices are designed to do: it named the buyers, quoted the principals and satisfied the basic demands of disclosure. It did not say how that $1.78 billion would be put together, who would ultimately be responsible for it, or how risk and reward would be shared.
Since then, that work has been unfolding out of sight. Consortium members have been in near‑constant calls with investors across two continents and multiple time zones. Lawyers, bent over drafts and mark‑ups, have been stitching the paperwork together.
On one of those evenings, Satyan Gajwani, vice‑chairman of the incoming ownership group, was in Bengaluru, hosting what one attendee described as an invite‑only catch‑up with friends. These were friends of a particular kind. Startup operators, unicorn founders and technology entrepreneurs who, between them, have built some of India’s most consequential companies drifted into a downtown cocktail bar for the sort of unhurried, low‑key conversation that often, a few weeks later, hardens into commitments measured in millions.
Behind the clean, almost antiseptic public statement, three consortium members have been raising money through separate investment vehicles, each aimed at a different group of investors. They must show Diageo next week that the capital is committed and available.
