Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Thursday said he plans to submit a “strong and competitive bid” to acquire Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) over the coming months.Poonawalla made the announcement in a post on X, stating his intent to enter the bidding process for the franchise.“Over the next few months, I will be putting in a STRONG and COMPETITIVE bid for @RCBTweets, one of the best teams in the IPL,” Poonawalla wrote.
In October last year, Poonawalla had hinted at his interest in the franchise, posting on X: “At the right valuation, @RCBTweets is a great team.”The development comes after Diageo, the parent company of United Spirits Ltd. (USL), decided to put RCB on sale. The move followed RCB’s first IPL title win in 2025, which ended the franchise’s long wait for the trophy.In November last year, United Spirits Ltd., which is owned by Diageo, announced that it would conduct a strategic review of its investment in Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL), the company that owns the RCB franchise.In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange on November 5, 2025, the UK-based Diageo described the move as a “Strategic Review of the Investment in Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd. (RCSPL).” The disclosure said, “USL is initiating a strategic review of the investment in its wholly owned subsidiary, RCSPL. RCSPL’s business comprises ownership of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise teams that participate in the men’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL) cricket tournaments hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) annually.“RCB has remained one of the IPL’s most popular teams, with players such as Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis representing the franchise over the years.When the IPL was launched in 2008, RCB was the second-most expensive franchise. Vijay Mallya, then chairman of United Spirits, bought the team for $111.6 million in 2007.The franchise later came under Diageo’s control after the company took over United Spirits Ltd.RCB play their home matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The team won its maiden IPL title in 2025 and finished runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016. RCB also won the Women’s Premier League (WPL) title in 2024.
