Private equity firm Bridgepoint Group has made a £400 million bid to acquire a 75% stake in English cricket’s the Hundred, the newest short-form version of the sport launched by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), according to a report by Sky News.
The proposal by the London-listed buyout form would provide a significant injection of funds for the ECB and the 18 forts class counties.
With franchised Twenty20 competitions gaining in popularity around the world, the report says that the Hundred, which launched a year later than planned in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is ripe for private investment. But ECB chair Richard Thompson is urging caution saying that while a deal on outside investment is possible, it may be better to let the two-year old competition format “grow and develop first”.
