The owners of Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore have joined some other Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisees in considering a partial sale of their stakes as revenues rise and interest in the tournament remains high despite a string of controversies.The owner of Deccan Chargers, Deccan Chronicle,has mandated Religare Capital Markets to manage the transaction,a person close to the development said,adding the sale is likely to fetch about $214 million, or.1,200 crore.On Friday, Deccan Chronicle Holdings told the BSE the company has been approached by multiple parties evincing interest in acquiring stake in the company’s IPL team and the company has appointed Religare Capital Markets to run a process and advise us of suitability of the offer(s). The above step is only exploratory and no conclusive /firm decision has been taken. Vijay Mallya, the promoter of Royal Challengers Bangalore, is also interested in a partial stake sale in the franchise, though group spokesperson Prakash Mirpuri rubbished the idea in an SMS response to ET.There is absolutely no question of a stake sale in the … team. We have announced our desire to consolidate all our sporting interests under one single entity. Options for this are still under evaluation, Mirpuri said. The chief operating officer of Deccan Chargers,E Venkatram Reddy,refused to comment. Religare Capital Markets, however, said in an email response, We don’t comment on matters relating to clients and market speculation. The two southern team owners join the Rajasthan and Punjab owners in trying to sell a slice of their stake as the tournament completes five successful years. Though all teams have not become champions, some have done very well, managing to increase gate receipts, viewership and merchandise. Royal Challengers Bangalore was a finalist in the second edition in 2009 while Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals won the 2009 and 2008 editions, respectively.

Times of India