Rajasthan Royals launch sensational takeover bid for Yorkshire – with IPL side’s asking price set at £25m

Rajasthan Royals have made an extraordinary takeover bid for Yorkshire, making the county club the second club owned by a foreign franchise.

The IPL organization has offered Yorkshire around £25 million which – contrary to other investment proposals the club has received – would see the Royals take full control of Headingley, ending their 160 years as a member club.

Mail Sport revealed last week that Yorkshire is considering selling Headingley to former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley to raise money to pay off £15million owed to former chairman Colin Graves’ family trust.

They have also held talks about taking loans from other IPL franchises and a Saudi Arabian prince, Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud.

While these proposals would ensure Yorkshire remains in the hands of their members, Rajasthan is aiming for full control. They would provide a convertible loan to Yorkshire to pay off Graves’ debts, which would be converted into equity at a future date.

The exact size of Rajasthan’s equity stake would be determined by market conditions at the time of the conversion, but it is believed they want a majority stake.

The Yorkshire management team is considering the offer, which will be presented to the board later this month. They would then present the offer to the members, who would vote whether to accept the offer.

Sources told Mail Sport that Rajasthan has plans to bring in their own executives to run the club, which would affect cricket director Darren Gough and coach Ottis Gibson.

Rajasthan’s bid comes at the right time as the ECB has made no secret of its desire to attract foreign investment, particularly in the eight Hundred franchises owned and funded by the governing body.

Fifteen of the eighteen first-class counties are owned by their members. Hampshire, Durham and Northamptonshire are the exceptions, although all three have English owners.

The ECB has also indicated its willingness to hand over control of the Hundred franchises to the states in order to reduce operating costs, which would be attractive to Rajasthan.

Yorkshire is a key player in the Northern Superchargers, who play their home games at Headingley. Rajasthan has already bought interests in the overseas T20 clubs, the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League and the Paarl Royals in South Africa, and has been exploring investments in the Hundred for some time.

A Yorkshire takeover would give them control of an iconic international location and provide a cheap route to Hundred property.

Rajasthan’s majority shareholder is London-based businessman Manoj Badale through his company Emerging Media, while RedBird Capital and Lachlan Murdoch are also investors.

Yorkshire declined to comment.