All eight teams from English cricket's The Hundred short-form competition have now sold stakes to private buyers.
The final sale was a holding in the Oval Invincibles team, operating out of the iconic Oval ground in South London. Surrey County Cricket Club, the owner of that venue, has taken a 51% stake in the team, with Reliance Strategic Business Ventures – a subsidiary of Indian behemoth Reliance Industries – holding the other 49%.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Reliance Industries is the owner of the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise from the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition in that country, as well as of several other T20 teams worldwide, all bearing the MI branding before their location name.
As such, from the 2026 season onwards, both Oval Invincibles teams – the men's and women's outfits – will be known instead as MI London.
The Oval Invincibles men's team has won the last three titles in a row, while their women's team was successful in the competition's first-ever season in 2022.
This finalised agreement means that all eight partnerships have been completed – the teams are, combined, valued at over £975 million ($1.3 billion), and over £500 million will now be invested into cricket overall in England and Wales. That figure includes £50 million dedicated specifically to grassroots cricket.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe last deal to go through before the Surrey-Reliance pact was a tie-up for the Trent Rockets, based at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, completed in October. Cain International & Ares Management now holds a 49% stake in that outfit.
Nita Ambani, of the controlling family behind Reliance and the MI franchises, has now said: "London holds a special place in the heart of cricket, and we are honoured to be part of its rich heritage. Together with Surrey, we look forward to nurturing young talent, engaging diverse communities, and uniting fans through their shared love of the game.”
Vikram Banerjee, The Hundred's managing director, added: "It’s an exciting moment to now have all eight deals complete. The world-leading partners we now have on board will help us take The Hundred to the next level and establish it as the unmissable summer event."
The 2026 edition of the tournament will be the first in which the new stakeholders have an operational say.
The initial six teams' sales went as follows: Nothern Superchargers in Leeds, now 100% owned by the Sun Group; Manchester Originals, now 70% owned by RPSG Group; London Spirit, now 50% owned by US-based consortium Tech Titans; Welsh Fire in Cardiff, of which team the Washington Freedom outfit now owns 49%; Southern Brave in Southampton, 49% owned by the GMR Group (although that entity also owns the host county cricket club, Hampshire); and Birmingham Phoenix, 49% owned by Knighthead Capital Management.
The overall process got underway in September last year, with the ECB – which has run the competition up to this point – initially gifting 51% to the professional counties at whose venues the Hundred teams play. The ECB then looked to sell the other 49% in each organization, leaving it up to the host country as to whether any further stake was sold (thereby making an outside investor the majority stakeholder). The auction for these stake sales took place across late January and early February.
The most lucrative deal saw Tech Titans – a consortium of Silicon Valley tech heavyweights – pay £145 million for 49% of the London Spirit, who play their home games at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
The ECB still owns the competition as a whole, meaning it controls the regulations and playing window – for the moment.
Future decisions about the commercial and strategic directions The Hundred goes in will be taken by a new board, which will contain representatives from both the ECB and all eight ownership groups.
