Rajasthan Royals sells equity stake to UK
Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 today announced selling an equity
stake to London based entrepreneur Raj Kundra and his partner, well
known Bollywood celebrity, Shilpa Shetty. Raj Kundra is the Chief
Executive Officer of Essential General Trading LLC, a Dubai based
international trading company dealing in precious metals,
construction, mining and green renewable energy projects. Shilpa
Shetty is the Chief Executive Officer of S2 Global Productions Pvt
Ltd., which is her home film production company. The announcement was
made by Manoj Badale, Chairman and joint owner, Rajasthan Royals.
Says Manoj Badale - Chairman & Joint Owner, Rajasthan Royals, "It is
our pleasure to welcome our new investors Mr. Raj Kundra and Shilpa
Shetty to the Royals family. The selling of this stake is part of our
long-term strategic approach to make Rajasthan Royals a global cricket
brand. Our objective is to support investment in key areas of player
development infrastructure; positioning for acquisition of
international acquisition and to also support continued investment in
our playing staff."
The additional investment accrued from this stake sale will be
deployed for acquiring cricket franchises overseas, especially in
South Africa and Australia, as well as extending the Rajasthan Royals
brand into other sports. In addition, a part of the fund will also be
used for recruiting players for Rajasthan Royals. The franchisee will
also look at leveraging strategic opportunities for their players for
more than just eight weeks a year.
Says Raj Kundra - Chief Executive Officer, Essential General Trading
LLC, Dubai, "The benefits to us investing in this venture was to add
to the already new found success of last year's underdogs who went on
to become the Champions and to add the winning formula of Bollywood to
create a true global cricket brand. I believe Shilpa Shetty getting
involved would just complete Rajasthan Royals and will certainly add
to its valuation."
Says Shilpa Shetty, Chief Executive Officer, S2 Global Productions
Pvt. Ltd, "We've taken a strategic approach in investing in Rajasthan
Royals. Cricket is not a sport in our country, it's a religion. I am
very passionate about Cricket and who better to invest in than the
current reigning IPL champions. It completes the proven success story
for an IPL team merging with Bollywood."
As part of their strategic development of the Rajasthan Royals brand,
the franchisee has lined up a slew of initiatives and licensing and
merchandising plans to enable their army of supporters to uniquely
connect with the team and the brand. Rajasthan Royals recently created
and launched a five-tier Royals Army fan club membership programme by
adopting global best practices and combined with elements that make
the packages attractive for their community of fans both locally and
globally.
The Royals Army membership programme has five fan categories, Maharaja
Club, Captain's Club, Royal Lions Club, Royal Bugles Club and Young
Royals Club, with membership fees ranging between Rs 2,500 and Rs 1.5
lakh. The benefits for the members include season tickets, autographed
bats, official team jerseys, preferential access to tickets sold
online and invitations to the season ending party.
Rajasthan Royals has also chalked out extensive licensing and
merchandising plans that will cover not just India but also countries
like US, UK and Australia where the team has a fan base. To begin
with, the franchisee also wears a new logo that has been undertaken in
line with the key re-branding initiatives across the Royals brand for
various aspects including the jersey and other merchandise.
The franchisee has been offering various products such as jerseys,
practice T-shirts, bags, sporting goods, team caps and autographed
bats as merchandise since the first season. This year, they have
decided to get aggressive with its merchandising business and doing it
on a much larger scale.
In a first move, it has already started selling its merchandise online
through its official website, www.rajasthanroyals.com
<http://www.rajasthanroyals.com/> . The prices for the various
products range between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Going forward the
company is looking at partnerships in different categories like FMCGs,
linen and kids products. They would use Rajasthan Royals' branding to
come out with product formulations. Besides the sportswear, Rajasthan
Royals is also planning to launch formal wear and children's products.
The franchisee is in talks with many Indian and international brands
to launch formal wear, including Jodhpuris and other apparels.
The franchise is also planning to come up with fan engagement contests
in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and other activities such as cricket clinics
and talents hunts, consumer activation programmes, and meet and greet
cricketer and fan interactions in the near future.
About Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals is the Jaipur franchise cricket team that represents
the state of Rajasthan in the Indian Premier League.The team is led
and coached by Shane Warne. The team's mascot is a lion named Moochu
Singh. The Rajasthan Royals team embodies the spirit of the Rajasthani
people – of valour, courage and honour both on and off the field.
Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural Indian Premium league held in
April-May 2008.
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