United Spirits to review ownership of Royal Challengers Bengaluru; hints at possible sale

United Spirits Ltd (USL), part of multinational alcoholic beverages company Diageo, on Wednesday said it is going to have a strategic review of its investment in Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL), the entity that owns IPL T20 team Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Hinting towards the sale of the business, USL, in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, said it is "initiating a strategic review of the investment in its wholly-owned subsidiary, RCSPL."

RCSPL's business comprises ownership of the “Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)” franchise teams that participate in the Men's Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women's Premier League (WPL) cricket tournaments hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) annually.

RCB, the team that had India's cricket star Virat Kohli, won its first Indian Premier League title earlier this year. The company expects the entire process of strategic review to be completed by the end of this fiscal. "It is expected the process will conclude by March 31st, 2026," said USL Managing Director & CEO Praveen Someshwar.

According to Someshwar, though RCSPL has been a valuable and strategic asset for USL, it’s non-core to our alcoholic beverage business. "This step reinforces USL’s & Diageo’s commitment to continue reviewing its India enterprise portfolio to enable sustained delivery of long-term value to all its stakeholders, while keeping RCSPL’s best interest in mind," he said.

RCB was one of the founding teams of the IPL, which was founded in 2008 by its previous owner Vijay Mallya. It came into the fold of Diageo, after it took Mallya's liquor business United Spirits Ltd.

RCB, whose home ground is M Chinnaswamy Stadium, won their first title in 2025 and finished as the runners-up on three occasions -- 2009, 2011, and 2016.

Earlier, in September, some media reports had claimed that Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla was in talks with USL for a possible acquisition of RCB. Recently, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) platform, Poonawalla said, “At the right valuation, RCB is a great team,” signalling his interest in acquiring the 2025 IPL champion team.

Earlier, in May 2022 after the strategic review of selected Popular brands, USL had sold and franchised selected brands to Inbrew Beverages.