Two weeks after the tender process was cancelled due to poor response, the race to own two new IPL teams has well and truly heated up.
Five bidders had lined up by 5pm on Friday, the cut-off time for submission of bids, to qualify for the auction which takes place on Sunday morning, top BCCI sources said.
The sources said among the interested parties - who had submitted the pre-qualification demand draft of Rs 46 crore - were Videocon, Sahara India, the Adani Group and a Pune consortium of Cyrus Poonawala and Ajay Shirke. Some of these corporates may be participating through other holding companies.
"We have received deposits from five bidders," a BCCI official told TOI. The name of the fifth bidder could not be confirmed, but there was speculation that it was infrastructure player Jaypee Group. In all, 13 entities had purchased bid documents.
The bids will be opened in Chennai on Sunday morning and by the afternoon, the winners will be announced, sources said. The new owners will join the IPL bandwagon in the 2011 season.
