MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has suggested that the BCCI settle its dispute with financially distressed Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, the owner of IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, through arbitration by appointing a mutually acceptable arbitrator.

The counsels of both the parties told the high court that they would seek instructions from their respective clients and place the name of their choice of arbitrators before the court. In case, the two parties fail to arrive at a consensus, the court may appoint an arbitrator to resolve the issue.

The high court had earlier directed BCCI to maintain status quo and not to invite bids for a new franchise to replace Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The court also deferred DCHL?s petition challenging BCCI?s decision to terminate the franchise till Tuesday. The BCCI had terminated Deccan Chargers? contract after the franchise rejected the lone bid to acquire the team.

The BCCI argued that the franchise has not paid the players and it has over Rs 40 billion debt from over 20 banks and financial institutions. This would hamper the franchise?s ability to run the team, which requires an investment of around Rs 1.5 billion every year, the BCCI said.

BCCI was also concerned about Deccan Chargers? ability to renew contracts of players when it has failed to clear the dues of existing players.

Deccan Chronicle counsel Zal Andhyarajunam assured that the financially distressed company would meet its obligations. He also alleged that the BCCI terminated its franchise agreement abruptly without giving them proper representation to present their views.

He said that the media company doesn?t have any debt to pay immediately. The DCHL counsel said installments are due in October, November and December.

The hearing will continue tomorrow when both the parties are expected to suggest names for appointment as an arbitrator.

MUMBAI: Deccan Chronicle on Saturday filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the BCCI‘s decision to terminate the contract it had with the Indian Premier League (IPL) for IPL Twenty20 cricket franchise Deccan Chargers.

BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale, in a statement, said the court heard both the parties and posted the petition for hearing on Monday, 17 September.

Earlier, explaining the decision to terminate the contract, Jagdale said despite the High Court appointing a court officer to act as an Observer at the opening of the tender, which was conducted under the aegis of the BCCI, to save the beleaguered franchise, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd rejected the bid that was received in the amount of Rs 4.50 billion cash and an equal sum in convertible debentures. This was despite the bidder meeting the eligibility criteria of the BCCI.

"BCCI has received a lawyers notice invoking arbitration from the franchise stating that it had not committed any breaches and even if such breaches were committed, the BCCI should not act to terminate the franchise till Yes Bank furnishes sufficient finance to cure the breaches. By this, Deccan Chronicle Holdings has clearly admitted its inability to cure its breaches within the time stipulated in the BCCI notice despite every bit of assistance from the BCCI," a BCCI statement said.

He said since the month of May, BCCI has received repeated assurances that the overdue player fees would be paid but all of those promises have remained unfulfilled.

The Governing Council (of the IPL) took note of the sudden change of stance by the franchise and also the fact that any further extension of time would seriously prejudice the interests of the players. The governing council at an emergency meeting in Chennai on Friday night took the final decision to terminate the contract with Deccan Chargers owner Deccan Chronicle.

"Considering the stated position of the Deccan franchise to refuse to rectify the various defaults including payments to players, foreign Boards etc, as also the deleterious effect such conduct would have on the reputation of the IPL and the franchise itself, a decision was taken to forthwith terminate the Deccan Chargers franchise," BCCI stated.

Jagdale stated that the BCCI was completely justified in its action which was taken with careful deliberation and only due to the absolute inability of the franchise to effectively run the team.

Reports had earlier indicated that Yes Bank, one of the banks that had loaned Deccan Chronicle money, had agreed to pay the players‘ salaries. The deadline for clearing players‘ dues was 1700 hrs Saturday.

Also Read: BCCI terminates Deccan Chargers contract

MUMBAI: The Twenty20 cricket Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council has terminated the contract with its Hyderabad franchisee Deccan Chargers, ending the ambitious journey of the promoters of Deccan Chronicle Holdings who were dreaming of extending their core media business to other lines of growth opportunities including the high-profile cricket property.

The Council took this extreme step late Friday night on grounds of a breach of contract. The decision was taken at an emergency IPL governing council meeting in Chennai, it is learnt. The final call was taken by BCCI President N Srinivasan.

IPL will now call for bids for a new franchise on Saturday.

The termination of the Deccan Chargers contract is as surprising as the decision of the team owner DCHL on Thursday to reject the sole bid it received from PVP Ventures Ltd to buy the franchisee for Rs 9 billion.

BCCI?s working committee was expected to decide on the fate of Deccan Chargers at its scheduled meeting on Saturday.

Deccan Chargers had rejected the sole bid on grounds of unacceptable payment terms. PVP Ventures had offered to pay Rs 4.50 billion in cash and the remaining in instalments but without providing bank guarantees. The bank lenders of DCHL were insisting upon bank guarantees.

The BCCI, in a statement on Thursday, had said the bid by PVP Ventures met its eligibility and suitability criteria. "The bid was then reviewed by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited which, in its discretion and with no role being played by BCCI, rejected the bid on the basis of the payment terms offered by the bidder."

Also read:

Sole bid for Deccan Chargers rejected

MUMBAI: In the bidding race for the buyout of IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, there will be a surprise contender. Mumbai-based RN Sports Club, which had expressed intent to buy the franchise outright, has been told by Deccan Chronicle chairman T. Venkattram Reddy to bid for it.

Reddy today met with two executives of RN Sports Club. "While we wanted to buy the franchise outright, Reddy told us to go through the bidding route," the Club?s spokesperson Deepika Sood told Indiantelevision.com.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, RN Sports is willing to pay Rs 9-11 billion. Backed by a celebrity and a businessman, it was ready to buy outside the bidding process. Interestingly, Bollywood star Salman Khan?s name has also cropped up in the list of possible bidders.

Earlier, Videocon CMD Venugopal Dhoot had told Indiantelevision that his company would bid around Rs 7 billion. Other names doing the rounds who could bid for the franchise include Adani Group and former Satyam COO Srini Raju who is now Peepul Capital co-founder, chairman.

Also read:

RN Sports Club willing to buy Deccan Chargers for Rs 11 bn

MUMBAI: Mumbai-based club RN Sports Club, backed by a celebrity and a businessman, is willing to purchase the Deccan chargers team outright and bypass the bidding process.

The club located in South Mumbai is willing to pay Rs 9-11 billion for the team and will have a meeting with Deccan Chronicle tomorrow.

According to the club?s marketing head Ankush Tripathi, the BCCI has also been informed of the intention.

"There is a clause in the bid document which allows a party to buy the franchise if the owners agree. We do not want to go through the bid process. RN Sports Club management is constantly in conversations with the BCCI and the Deccan Chargers management for this deal," he tells Indiantelevision.com.

Tripathy believes the breakeven period can be achieved in three years. "The team will retain the same name and be based in Hyderabad. As per the terms in the bid document, this cannot be changed," he says.

The club?s promoter is Vijay Barhate. The aim of R.N. Sports club is to promote cricket. "We have been wanting to purchase an IPL team since IPL-4, as we already conduct various successful talent hunt camps at an all India school level. We have also done talent hunt camps aboard, We have cricket coaching centres in several places including Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. We also have cricket academies in Mumbai. The aim of purchasing our own team is to promote the young cricketers of nation."

Interestingly R.N. Sports Club had a deal with Rajasthan Royals for running a talent hunt. Tripathi says that the MoU expired and so the club chose not to renew it. Earlier Rajasthan Royals had said that it had terminated the deal over non payment of dues which Tripathi flatly denied. For him, owning a franchise is the next step.

Other names doing the rounds who could bid for the franchise include Videcon, Adani Group and former Satyam COO Srini Raju who is now Peepul Capital co-founder, chairman.

MUMBAI: Conglomerate Videocon Industries will bid for the purchase of the IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, the company?s chairman and managing director Venugopal Dhoot told Indiantelevision.com.

"We are interested in buying the franchise," he added.

The financially stressed Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, the parent company which owns Deccan Chargers, issued a tender today inviting bids to purchase the Hyderbad IPL team under the aegis of BCCI.

Is Rs 6.5 billion a realistic price range? "Yes, this seems to be a reasonable value," Dhoot said.

As per the tender notice, bidders will be required to enter into a new franchise agreement with BCCI.

The purchase consideration will be paid into a bank account as decided by the lending banks, with 5 per cent payable directly to the BCCI.

The bid amount will have to be paid into a bank account of banks as decided by the lending banks with 5 per cent payable directly to the BCCI.

The winning bidder will acquire from Deccan Chronicle Holdings on an "as is where is" basis the right to own and operate the IPL team currently known as Deccan Chargers which is and will continue to be based in Hyderabad, the tender notice read.

The invitation to tender document will be available from 7 September at the BCCI office in Mumbai upon payment of Rs 0.5 million by demand draft of pay order favouring DCHL.

Bids have to be submitted in person at 12 noon on 13 September at the Greenways Hall, ITC Hotel Park Sheraton and Towers, Chennai. The winning bids will be announced on the same day.