Mittal family land Rajasthan Royals in $1.65 billion takeover after Somani deal collapses
Rajasthan Royals are changing hands. The Mittal family, led by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and his son Aditya, have agreed to buy a 75% stake in the IPL franchise, with Serum Institute of India's Adar Poonawalla taking another 18% and a clutch of existing investors led by Manoj Badale keeping the remaining 7%. The enterprise value is $1.65 billion, around 15,660 crore rupees. Only the recent Royal Challengers Bengaluru sale to an Aditya Birla-led consortium, at a reported $1.78 billion, has changed hands for more in IPL history.
The deal supersedes a $1.63 billion offer from a US-led consortium fronted by Scottsdale-based entrepreneur Kal Somani, with Denver Broncos owner Rob Walton and Michael Hamp of the Detroit Lions ownership family among the backers. That agreement won the bidding process in March and was on the path to closure before funding and regulatory questions stalled it. The Mittal-Poonawalla group came in late, closed quickly and effectively gazumped the original buyers.
A Rajasthan owner for the Rajasthan side
Lakshmi Mittal was born in Sadulpur, a town in Rajasthan's Churu district. He went on to build ArcelorMittal into one of the largest steel companies in the world before stepping down as chief executive in 2021. Royals have not had an Indian principal owner of his stature since the franchise launched in 2008. With Poonawalla, the Serum Institute chief, holding 18%, two of India's biggest corporate names are now in the same dressing room.
Manoj Badale, the franchise's longest-serving stakeholder and the public face of Royals through their early years, is exiting most of his holding. The 7% retained by approved existing investors keeps him formally in the building, and the buyers have framed his role as a bridge between the past and the present. That is useful continuity for an ownership group whose hands-on cricket experience is, on paper, thin.
Closing and the Somani legal threat
The transaction is subject to approvals from the BCCI, the Competition Commission of India, the IPL Governing Council and other regulators. The buyers expect it to close in the third quarter of 2026.
That timeline could be complicated. Reports out of Mumbai say the Somani-led consortium is considering legal action, claiming their own agreed deal was effectively unwound under terms that leave them out of pocket. Whether that ends in a court filing or a quieter settlement is unclear, but the BCCI is unlikely to wave the new structure through while a previous buyer is publicly questioning the process.
For the cricket itself, very little changes between now and the playoffs. Royals will see out IPL 2026 under the existing operational set-up. The first real decisions for the new owners, things like coaching reviews, retentions and auction priorities for 2027, only land in the autumn. By which time, in theory, the paperwork will be signed off.
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