Poonawalla eyes RCB at $1-1.2 bn valuation

Adar Poonawalla, owner of the vaccine maker Serum Institute, is evaluating a deal to buy the Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bengaluru at a valuation of up to $1-1.2 billion, a person directly aware of the development said.

- Sneha Shah & Soumya Gupta

Poonawalla, who also owns a 50% stake in film producer Dharma Productions, is interested in acquiring the entire franchise, rather than just a minority stake, CNBC-TV-18 reported earlier on Tuesday.

Bloomberg first reported in June that Diageo was looking to sell its nearly 18-year-old team, but the company then denied the report.

Diageo India declined to comment, and an email to representatives of Adar Poonawalla remained unanswered.

At the upper end, the deal will value Royal Challengers at just over 10,600 crore, or more than 20 times the team's revenues.