- Adar Poonawalla plans to bid strongly for IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru soon
- RCB are defending IPL champions and among the league's most popular teams
- Diageo put RCB up for sale six months after their first IPL title win
Billionaire pharma tycoon Adar Poonawalla on Thursday said he plans to put a "strong and competitive" bid for the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the coming months. RCB are the defending champions of India's most-popular cricket league.
"Over the next few months, will be putting in a STRONG and COMPETITIVE bid for RCB, one of the best teams in the IPL," Poonawalla told his 13 lakh followers on social media platform X. He did not provide any details about the bid. Poonawalla is the Chief Executive Officer of Pune-based vaccine-maker Serum Institute of India.
Over the next few months, will be putting in a STRONG and COMPETITIVE bid for @RCBTweets, one of the best teams in the IPL.
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 22, 2026
Diageo, the parent company of United Spirits Ltd., had put RCB up for sale in November, six months after the team secured its first ever IPL title. Praveen Someshwar, managing director and CEO of United Spirits, described RCB as a "valuable and strategic asset" but is non-core to the company's alcobev business.
Media reports last year suggested Diageo is seeking a valuation of around $2 billion for RCB, which ranks among the highest-valued IPL teams and has one of the biggest fanbase, owing to the presence of various star players including Virat Kohli, Smriti Mandhana, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Phil Salt, among others across its men's and women's teams.
RCB's first IPL title after 18 years propelled it to become the second-most valuable IPL brand at $105 million, which is 10% lower than last year when it was in the third spot, according to a recent report by Brand Finance.
One of the founding teams of the IPL, RCB was initially acquired by Vijay Mallya, owner of Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., for $111.6 million, which translated to Rs 600-700 crore back in 2008. The bid was slightly less than Reliance Industries Ltd.'s $111.9 million bid for the Mumbai Indians team.
After Kingfisher Airlines folded in 2012, failing to pay creditors, Diageo took over RCB after buying Mallya's spirits business.
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