Rajasthan Royals sold for 15600 crore to one of India's most powerful industrialists as Somani deal fails

Rajasthan Royals have a new owner, and the story of how it happened is almost as interesting as the deal itself.

Lakshmi Mittal, the UK-based steel magnate born in Sadulpur in North Rajasthan, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire the Jaipur franchise in partnership with Adar Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India and existing owner Manoj Badale, in a deal valued at one point six five billion dollars, approximately fifteen thousand six hundred crore rupees at current exchange rates.

The acquisition, which also covers subsidiary franchises Paarl Royals in South Africa and Barbados Royals in the Caribbean, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 subject to approvals from the BCCI, the CCI, and the IPL Governing Council.

The announcement comes as Rajasthan Royals sit comfortably in the playoff positions in IPL 2026, with fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi rewriting the record books every other week.

The Somani deal that fell through and how Mittal stepped in

The announcement is a surprise in its specifics, if not entirely in its broader direction. A US-based consortium led by Kal Somani, with Rob Walton of the Walmart family and Sheila Ford Hamp of the Ford family as partners, had previously been announced as the incoming owners of the franchise.

Their bid of one point six three billion dollars had been accepted, and for a period the transition appeared to be moving forward. It did not. Sources indicate the Somani-led consortium ran into funding issues during due diligence and the deal fell through, a development that opened the door for Mittal's consortium to step in with a marginally higher valuation of one point six five billion dollars and a cleaner path to completion.

The Mittal bid cleared due diligence and a definitive agreement has now been signed, making the transition from the Badale era to the Mittal era the biggest off-field story of the IPL season.

Who the Mittals are and why this Rajasthan Royals ownership makes personal sense

Lakshmi Mittal is the chairman of ArcelorMittal, one of the world's largest steel companies, and one of the wealthiest Indians living outside India. His son Aditya Mittal is the CEO of ArcelorMittal and will also be part of the ownership consortium alongside Vanisha Mittal-Bhatia.

The family's connection to Rajasthan is genuine rather than transactional, Lakshmi Mittal was born and raised in Sadulpur in North Rajasthan, and his statement at the announcement reflected something that went beyond the financial calculation of acquiring a sports franchise. "My family is from Rajasthan, so there is no IPL team that I would rather be part of than the Rajasthan Royals," he said.

Aditya Mittal's emphasis on the franchise's reputation for developing young talent, a legacy that includes Shane Watson, Sanju Samson, and now Sooryavanshi, suggests the new ownership understands what makes Rajasthan Royals distinct from other IPL franchises and intends to preserve rather than disrupt it.

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Adar Poonawalla's role and Manoj Badale's transition

Adar Poonawalla, who had previously made a bid for RCB, holds an eighteen percent stake in the new consortium, the second largest behind the Mittal family's seventy-five percent. His involvement brings both financial weight and cricket credibility to a consortium that is otherwise coming to franchise ownership fresh.

Manoj Badale, who has been the lead owner of Rajasthan Royals since the franchise's earliest days and played a central role in building it into the global sporting institution it has become, retains a seven percent stake as part of the existing investor group and remains on the board.

The statement from the consortium described his continued role as acting "as a bridge between the past and the present", carefully worded language that acknowledges both his irreplaceable institutional knowledge and the reality that effective control of the franchise is moving to new hands.

The franchise that Badale built, which won the inaugural IPL title in 2008 and has been associated with some of the most distinctive cricket thinking in the competition's history, now belongs to a family from its own soil.