Yorkshire lined up for takeover bid by Rajasthan Royals – with IPL franchise offering £25m to take FULL control of crisis county

Rajasthan Royals have launched an extraordinary takeover bid for Yorkshire which would make them the first county club to be owned by an overseas franchise.

The IPL outfit have offered Yorkshire around £25million, which — unlike other investment proposals the club have received — would see the Royals take full control at Headingley, ending its 160 years as a members’ club.

Mail Sport revealed last week that Yorkshire are considering selling Headingley to former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley to raise funds to pay off £15m owed to the family trust of former chairman Colin Graves. 

They have also held talks over taking loans from other IPL franchises and a Saudi Arabian Prince, Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud.

While those proposals would ensure Yorkshire remain in the hands of their members, Rajasthan are seeking complete control. They would provide a convertible loan note to Yorkshire to service the Graves debt, which would be switched to equity at a future date. 

Rajasthan Royals have launched a takeover bid for Yorkshire County Cricket Club (above)

Should the Royals be successful in their takeover, they will take full control at Headingley

The precise size of Rajasthan’s equity stake would be determined by market conditions at the time of conversion, but they are understood to want a majority shareholding.

Yorkshire’s executive team are considering the offer, which will be put to the board later this month. They would then put the offer to the members, who would vote on whether to accept the offer. 

Sources told Mail Sport Rajasthan have plans to bring in their own executives to run the club, which would have implications for director of cricket Darren Gough and coach Ottis Gibson. 

Rajasthan’s offer is timely because the ECB have made no secret of their desire to attract overseas investment, particularly to the eight Hundred franchises, which are owned and funded by the governing body.

Fifteen of the 18 first-class counties are owned by their members. Hampshire, Durham and Northamptonshire are the exceptions, although all three have majority English owners.

The ECB have also indicated they would be willing to hand over control of the Hundred franchises to their constituent counties to reduce running costs, which would be attractive to Rajasthan. 

Sources told Mail Sport Rajasthan have plans to bring in their own executives to run the club

Yorkshire need to raise funds to pay £15m owed to the family trust of ex-chairman Colin Graves

Yorkshire are major stakeholders in the Northern Superchargers, who play their home games at Headingley. Rajasthan have already bought stakes in overseas T20 sides the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League and the Paarl Royals in South Africa, and have been exploring investing in the Hundred for some time.

Taking over at Yorkshire would give them control over an iconic international venue and provide a cut-price route into Hundred ownership.

Rajasthan’s majority owner is London-based businessman Manoj Badale through his company Emerging Media, while RedBird Capital and Lachlan Murdoch are also investors.

Yorkshire declined to comment.