E-Paper
Is RCB up for sale? United Spirits starts review of ownership of IPL 2025 champion
The review of Royal Challengers Sports is expected to conclude by 31 March, United Spirits says without specifying whether RCB is up for a sale.
United Spirits Ltd., the India unit of Diageo Plc, has strarted a review of its investment in its sports management unit that controls Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The team, featuring India's cricket star Virat Kohli, won its first Indian Premier League earlier this year.
The review of Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd., which owns RCB's men's and women's cricket teams, is expected to conclude by 31 March, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday (5 November 2025). United Spirits didn't specify whether an RCB stake sale is under consideration.
A potential RCB stake sale could set a benchmark for valuations in the IPL, where team stakes are increasingly seen as trophy assets. The cricket league has evolved into a entertainment and advertising behemoth, rivaling the likes of National Football League and the English Premier League.
Royal Challengers Sports “has been a valuable and strategic asset” for United Spirits, however, it’s non-core to the company’s alcobev business, CEO Praveen Someshwar said in the filing. The move underscores Diageo’s plan to streamline its India portfolio and focus on long-term value creation, he said.
Diageo has held discussions with potential advisers on possibility of an RCB stake sale at a valuation of as much as $2 billion, Bloomberg News reported in June. In October, Adar Poonawalla—owner of India's largest vaccine maker Serum Institute of India—gave wind to the speculation by tweeting that “at the right valuation, @RCBTweets is a great team”.
United Spirits' review of its RCB unit comes as India’s health ministry steps up efforts to curb promotion of alcohol and tobacco brands in sports.
One of the founding teams of the IPL, RCB was owned by Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. folded in 2012 after failing to pay creditors. Diageo eventually took over the team after buying Mallya’s United Spirits.
