Richard Thompson, the ECB’s chair, has revealed a target to raise at least £350 million in the Hundred’s sales process – a target that he believes the board will surpass “comfortably” when deals are signed off early next year.
The ECB are selling 49% stakes in each of the eight teams in the Hundred, which will be turned into franchises and will initially be run as joint-ventures with host counties (or, in the case of London Spirit, MCC). The sales process launched in early September and has progressed into the second of three rounds, with a final target deadline in January 2025.
Thompson said last month that the pool of prospective investors was “way broader and bigger” than the Raine Group – the US investment bank who are running the process – had anticipated. The ECB have not previously committed to a projected figure from the sale in public, but Thompson has now revealed that £350 million is seen as the minimum target.
“Our target was to raise £350 million from sales,” Thompson told City AM. “I think we’re going to exceed that comfortably, but we’ve still got some way to go. I think all of us have been genuinely shocked over the quality and quantity of interest… There’s hardly anyone in sport that isn’t at the table.”
The ECB were questioned last week by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee on the sale of the Hundred. Chief executive Richard Gould responded in writing to a letter from the committee’s chair Caroline Dinenage and defended the sale after questions around its likely impact on English cricket.
“This process presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a significant capital injection into cricket in England and Wales,” Gould wrote. “It is a rare moment when we have the collective power to ensure that these funds are utilised fully in ways that will provide long-term financial sustainability for the whole game.”
Gould also revealed that the ECB will soon establish a ‘Hundred committee’ designed to “lead, scrutinise and monitor the administration, operation and commercialisation” of the competition. Its members will comprise ECB non-executive directors, representatives from the franchises and independent appointments.