Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, poured more fuel on the fire when he responded to rumours of his buying the Royal Challengers Bangalore, one of the most prestigious franchises in the Indian Premier League. According to CNBC-TV18, Poonawalla may have already set about negotiations with Diageo Plc, the existing owners of RCB, for a sale of the franchise. It is not, however, clear whether Diageo Plc intends to mount an outright sale of its shares in RCB or not.
Speaking about Diageo Plc and United Sports, the British multinational alcoholic beverages concern is said to be seeking a USD 2 billion valuation for RCB.
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According to Houlihan Lokey’s IPL Valuation Study 2025, RCB was the top valuable franchise this year even from the business standpoint.
Poonawalla’s post is now expected to spread like wildfire on social media, and with him showing interest, it appears that there may be some truth to the current owners of RCB possibly wanting to test the waters.
Earlier, the former IPL commissioner, Lalit Modi also added that the owners might have decided to get rid of RCB from their balance sheet by selling the franchise.
Modi later shared a news article link about Virat Kohli’s RCB looking for the sale of RCB to Poonawalla.
At the right valuation, @RCBTweets is a great team…
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) October 1, 2025
On Tuesday, he mentioned on X: “There have been a lot of rumour about the sale of an @IPL franchise specifically @RCBTweets – well in the past they have been denied. But it seems the owners have finally decided to take it off their balance sheet and sell it. I am sure having won the IPL last season and also with its strong base of fans and of course the Team itself and a great management team – it could be the only Team which would be available as a whole as an #ipl franchise.”
CNBC-TV18 also reported that interested buyers want to procure the entire stake of RCB, rather than just any partial stake in the franchise. Citi, a global investment bank, has been retained as the transaction advisor.
When CNBC-TV18 was questioning the Diageo spokesperson on the same, the spokesperson declined to comment and said, “We don’t comment on market speculation.”
Earlier on this year, RCB won their first ever IPL title by beating Punjab Kings in the summit clash, which took place at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Following this big victory, a huge celebration was held in Bengaluru. But offers a dark twist to the narrative with 11 people losing their lives in a stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
