Chennai Super Kings is now India’s first sports unicorn with its market cap touching a high of Rs 7,600 crores, far above that of its parent entity India Cements Rs 6,879 crores.
New Delhi | Jagran Sports Desk: Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings may be a title short of equaling Mumbai Indians as most successful IPL franchise with most title wins. But the CSK have become the most commercially successful sports franchise of India. Chennai Super Kings is now India’s first sports unicorn with its market cap touching a high of Rs 7,600 crores.
CSK’s market cap currently stands far above its parent entity India Cements, whose market cap as per latest market reports stands at Rs 6,879 crores.
Two key reasons which have led CSK’s market cap to go past its parent entity are the team winning its fourth IPL title in Dubai, and two new franchises being added to the upcoming season at record prices.
The Sanjiv Goenka-led RP Sanjeev Goenka Group bought the Lucknow franchise (Lucknow Super Giants) for Rs 7,090 crore, while CVC Capital acquired the rights for the Ahmedabad franchise for 5,625 crore.
N. Srinivasan, the managing director of India Cements and former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was quoted as saying on Friday that, “Brand CSK will outgrow Brand India Cements. If you look at the history of franchise-based leagues in the US, it will outgrow everything. Passion for cricket is so much in India. The road between countries will see franchise-based leagues getting precedence as we go along.”
The shares of Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited (CSKCL), which controls CSK, had hit an all-time high in the unlisted market on October 26 last year, surging from Rs 110-120 per share to crossing the Rs 220-mark in trade within a week. It brought CSKCL’s market cap to around Rs 7,000 crore, which was just Rs 500 crore short of making it to the Unicorn club and came just 11 days after they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the IPL final.
