IPL Governing Council meeting on Wednesday

Cricket News:

The Kochi IPL franchise issue will be taken up on Wednesday's meeting of the IPL Governing Council, in case there is a message from the promoters or investors to the BCCI. The Board had granted 30 days to promoters Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited and group of investors for settling inside differences over team ownership issue. The deadline ends November 26.Prof Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI's Chief Administrative Officer said, “The eighth franchise is one of the items on the IPL GC meeting agenda. We are preparing for it.

“If the Kochi people convey any decision to us, the matter will then be taken up for discussion. Nothing has come here to the BCCI office yet,” he said on Tuesday, answering a query about a reported hint from the investors group sent to the Board expressing an intent to withdraw. Anchor Earth, Parinee Developers, Film Waves Combine, Anand Shyam and Vivek Venugopal are principal investors in the Kochi franchise, having paid Rs. 153 crore (10 per cent of team worth Rs. 1,533 crore) as fixed by the IPL for winning bids, apart from $10m guarantee before the tender documents were opened.

“I have heard about a letter by one Kochi group. The deadline for that decision is November 26, if they get in touch with us earlier, the matter will be put up at the GC,” said Shetty.The investors, holding 75 per cent equity, wanted Rendezvous to concede the right to lead the Kochi IPL franchise and decrease equity to 10 per cent from the original 25 per cent. With no agreement with the promoters in sight, the investors latest move may be an attempt to find a way to recover the guarantee money before the BCCI axe falls on Kochi by November end.

The internal differences between the Kochi IPL promoters and investors came to the fore when the Board received two letters, one from each party. One letter from investors referred to a MoU between the two groups and a request for a 10-day deadline extension to resolve ownership problems. The second letter from promoters informed about discussions with investors at an advanced stage and asked the BCCI to discuss with them before taking any decision based on letters by any other parties.