Abhishek Securities

  With just 20 days to go for the 13th edition of  the Indian Premier League  (IPL), the team owners are looking for another  profitable year , despite a significant drop expected in revenues. Multiple team officials told ET that while their profits will dip as a result of drop in  team sponsorships , Vivo’s exit as the IPL title sponsor and no visibility on gate revenues, they would have lost money if IPL 2020 didn’t take place. “Every franchise has been affected but at the time of  pandemic , you have to look at the bigger picture,” said Dheeraj Malhotra, CEO, Delhi Capitals. “All the franchises are still going to make revenue and profits. Less revenue is still better than no revenue.” As per the format of the league, all the franchises get a share from the central revenue pool which comes to around 50% of all the BCCI’s revenues (after subtracting licence fee). Recently, Vivo, the title sponsor of the IPL, which was paying Rs 440 crore per season to the Board for Control for

In yet another blockbuster deal, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on Saturday announced the acquisition of businesses of Kishore Biyani's  Future Group  for  ₹ 24,713 crore to add to its fast expanding retail business and bolster e-commerce to take on the competition from Jeff Bezos' Amazon. "Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd will acquire the retail and wholesale business and the logistics and warehousing business from the Future Group as going concerns on a slump sale basis for lumpsum aggregate consideration of INR 24,713 crore," the company said in a statement. Reliance Retail will now have access to close to 1,800 stores across Future Group's Big Bazaar, FBB, Easyday, Central, Foodhall formats, which are spread in over 420 cities in India. "Pleased to provide a home to the renowned formats and brands of Future Group," said Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail. "With this transaction, we are p

Bengaluru-based edu-tech firm ‘Unacademy’ has been roped in the as official partner for the Indian Premier League for three seasons, the BCCI announced on Saturday. The 13th IPL is scheduled to be held in UAE from September 19 to November 10. “We are pleased to have Unacademy on board as the ‘Official Partner’ of the Indian Premier League 2020 to 2022,” IPL chairman Brijesh Patel said in a release on Tuesday. “IPL is the most watched cricket league in India and as a homegrown Indian edutech company we believe that Unacademy can create a huge positive impact on the aspirations of the audience watching, especially the millions of Indian youth who are seeking inspiration in their careers.” Commenting on the association, Karan Shroff, VP - Marketing, Unacademy, said: “We are delighted to become the Official Partner of IPL. Unacademy is a high-intensity brand that has disrupted the education and learning market with innovations and broken geographical barriers for Learners and Educators. “W

Several members of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) contingent, including an India medium-pacer, have tested positive for  Covid-19  in Dubai, it is learnt. Sources said, positive results came after CSK players, squad members and support staff underwent  coronavirus  tests on Thursday. The Indian Express  understands that apart from the India seamer, who plays in the shorter formats, a few net bowlers, some members of the digital/social media team and a CSK team official, too, have tested positive. The Chennai-based Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise were scheduled to start training from Friday, but it is learnt that following the latest development, the team has deferred it until September 1. Those who have tested positive will self-isolate for 14 days outside the bio-bubble. The IPL quarantine protocol for Covid positive individuals says: “This will follow the Government policy and is currently 14 days. During the 14-day quarantine, the individual will be tested on Day 10, Day 13 and

Paytm Payments Bank  has written to the Reserve  Bank  of India ( RBI ), seeking an in-principle approval for becoming a  small finance bank  (SFB) that will enable it to extend loans. The bank has said that the approval will help the lender prepare the groundwork so that it would not have to spend time when it completes the five-year waiting period in a couple of years. Paytm  Payments Bank CEO Satish Kumar Gupta said that his organisation is the only profitable  payments bank  and has been in operations since May 2017. “One of the conditions for granting  licence  as a payments bank was that we have five years experience in the payments space. I have written to the RBI, asking for an in-principle approval so that we will be prepared to apply for the final licence when we are eligible,” Gupta said. Last year, the RBI had said that payments banks could seek a conversion to SFBs. This conversion option was also made available to cooperative banks. Unlike payments banks, SFBs can gra

  PAG has agreed to buy a controlling stake in the wealth management and  capital markets business  of  Edelweiss Financial Services   NSE 0.48 %  that also includes investment banking, its first large deal in the country after setting up local base in 2019. PAG, among the largest Asia-focussed alternative asset management firm, on Thursday said in an official statement that it is paying Rs 2,244 crore to buy a 51% stake in these businesses that will be carved out of Edelweiss subsidiary, called Edelweiss Global Investment Advisors. In Edelweiss, both these businesses come under the omnibus umbrella of  Edelweiss Global Wealth Management Limited  (EGWML). The company will issue compulsorily convertible debentures (CCDs) to PAG worth Rs 2,204 crore. There will also be a primary issuance of securities by Edelweiss’ securities business of around Rs 140 crore to EGWML and PAG along with the other existing shareholders. The sale was approved at a board meeting held on Thursday, Edelweiss an

Three-time   Indian Premier League  champions Chennai Super Kings held a five-day training camp in Chennai earlier this month before the squad travelled to UAE for the upcoming season of the tournament. No other franchise held a camp like this, and in a recent interaction, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan revealed how CSK captain   MS Dhoni   convinced him to go ahead with the camp. “When we announced the tournament is going to happen, I had reservations about conducting the camp here because the bio-bubble had to be created. In fact sent a message to him (asking) whether it will be worthwhile having a camp for 5 days before going to Dubai. But the captain was crystal clear in his thoughts,” Viswanathan said in a video uploaded on YouTube by CSK.  “He (Dhoni) said ‘sir, we have not played for nearly 4-5 months. All of us need to get together in Chennai. We should be in a bio-bubble in Chennai so that we get used to that when we land in Dubai’. “And also it helped in the boys getting in shape.

  The board of Future Enterprises will meet on Saturday to finalise the sale of the group’s retail business to  Reliance Retail . The all-cash deal will see the  Mukesh Ambani  company take on Future Group’s debt and liabilities, and pick up a minority stake in the latter’s  FMCG  arm. According to the terms of the deal, valued at about Rs 29,000-30,000 crore, Future Group will merge five listed units across grocery, apparel, supply chain and the consumer business into  Future Enterprises Ltd   NSE 4.96 %  (FEL), which currently houses the group’s retail back-end infrastructure. FEL will then hive off all retail assets and sell them to RIL as a single unit, according to two people familiar with the matter. “Reliance will pay about Rs 13,000 crore to Future Group for clearing debt, another Rs 7,000 crore for its liabilities (including payments to landlords and vendors), and Rs 6,000-7,000 crore to the promoter group,” said one of the persons. In addition, Reliance will pick up 14-16