LONDON: The owners of the Delhi Capitals are eyeing a 120 million pound ($153 million) deal to buy Hampshire County Cricket Club in a move which would see them become the first overseas franchise to own an English first-class county, according to media reports.

The BBC said on Friday the GMR Group, the co-owners of the Indian Premier League franchise, were in “advanced” talks with south coast side Hampshire.

Some UK national press reports suggested the deal had already been concluded but BBC Radio Solent said it understood no contract has yet been signed, although Hamp­shire were close to reaching an agreement with the group.

But any purchase of Hampshire by GMR must be ratified by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The Daily Telegraph reported the proposed deal could see GMR also take a 51 percent stake in the Southern Brave, a team in English domestic cricket’s controversial Hundred competition that are headquartered at Hampshire’s Rose Bowl headquarters.

That would potentially leave GMR free to completed a 100 percent takeover of the Brave when the ECB sell their 49 percent share of the eight Hundred franchises by the end of the year.

Unlike the majority of English cricket’s 18 first-class counties, Hampshire is no longer a members-owned club.

Instead, its majority shareholder is businessman Rod Bransgrove — who took over in 2000 when the club was on the brink of bankruptcy.

But Bransgrove, who has sunk an estimated 15 million ($19 million) of his own money into the club, helped Hampshire move from their home of over a hundred years, at Northlands Road in Southampton, to the Rose Bowl on the edge of the city.

The now 74-year-old has overseen a successful era at the club featuring several limited-overs trophies and the arrival of leading overseas stars, including the late Australia great Shane Warne, who captained Hampshire.

But in 2023 it was announced Bransgrove would be standing down after 23 years as chairman.

That news came after it was revealed Hampshire would host an Ashes Test in 2027 — one of Bransgrove’s longstanding ambitions for the county.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2024