Chelsea owner Boehly buys stake in Trent Rockets

Todd Boehly has been chairman of Chelsea for almost three years

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has agreed to buy a 49% share in Hundred franchise Trent Rockets.

Cain International, founded by American Boehly and British businessman Jonathan Goldstein, will pay just under £40m for the stake in the Rockets, valuing the entire franchise at £79m.

Nottinghamshire, hosts of the Rockets at their Trent Bridge ground, will retain control of the other 51%.

Cain, a real estate investment company, was in the running for a stake in London Spirit before a 49% share in the Lord's team was sold to a Silicon Valley consortium for £145m.

The sale of the Rockets takes total sales of stakes in seven Hundred teams to date to more than £500m.

The entire value of the seven Hundred franchises comes to around £820m.

Southern Brave will become the eighth and final franchise sold later this week. They are likely to go to the co-owners of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Delhi Capitals after their buyout of hosts Hampshire.

Boehly led a consortium that bought Premier League club Chelsea for £4.25bn in May 2022 and became chairman at Stamford Bridge. Goldstein is also on the club's board.

Boehly is a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and has stakes in about a dozen other sports-related businesses through his conglomerate Eldridge Industries.

Trent Rockets were champions in the men's Hundred in 2022

Nottinghamshire have become the fifth hosts to sell a 49% share in their Hundred franchise.

Surrey negotiated a £60m price with the owners of IPL side Mumbai Indians for a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles, the county keeping the 51% given to them by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Warwickshire agreed a 49% sale of Birmingham Phoenix to Birmingham City FC owners Knighthead Capital for £40m, and Glamorgan sold the same stake in Welsh Fire to IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil for £40m.

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) agreed a deal with a consortium led by Nikesh Arora which acquired a 49% share of London Spirit.

Lancashire became the first county to sell part of their share when agreeing a deal for 70% of Manchester Originals with the owners of IPL team Lucknow Super Giants for around £81m.

And Yorkshire became the first county to sell their entire stake when the Sun Group, owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad, agreed to pay just over £100m for Northern Superchargers.

Money raised from the sales will mainly be split between the 18 first-class counties, the MCC and the recreational game.

All deals now enter an eight-week exclusivity period in order to finalise the partnerships.