LAHORE: The auction of the much awaited Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans was held at the Expo Center on Monday.
The Holy Quran was recited and the star-studded auction began with the National Anthem.
PSL CEO Salman Naseer welcomed the five eligible bidders – CD Ventures, Tweaker Energy and Particle Igniter, TSM, Aim Next Inc and Wally Technologies – while Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi officially opened the bidding.
Later, assessor Chitra Iqbal listed the terms for the auction, while auctioneer Fakhre Alam disclosed the base price of the franchise at Rs1.82 billion.
Bidding Rules
- All bids are quoted in Pakistani Rupees (PKR).
- Minimum bid is PKR 10,000,000 (Rupees Ten Million only) from base price announced by PCB.
- Bid increments less than the Minimum Increment Bid will not be accepted.
- Bidders may choose to bid higher than the minimum incremental bid. No limit.
- Only once in each round of bidding, each bidder is entitled to use one (1) strategic timeout of up to five (5) minutes.
- During this strategic period, bidders may consult with their representatives before deciding their future course of action in the auction, but are not permitted to communicate with other bidders.
- Despite the final call by the bidder, if no other bidder outbids the highest bid above the base price, the bidding round is declared closed.
- Once the bidding round is over, the valid bid higher than the base price will be declared the provisional winning bid.
Soon after the base price was announced, interested parties engaged in a bidding war until CD Ventures put forward a bid of Rs2.06 billion, prompting AIM Next to request a strategic deadline of five minutes.
Following the deadline, AIM Next announced that it was withdrawing from the auction.
Meanwhile, CD Venues has invested Rs. The remaining bidders again engaged in another bidding war until they bid 2.15 billion.
Bidder Alam initiated the final call, after which CD Ventures upped their bid only to be upstaged by Valley Technologies.
But CD Ventures regained the lead with a bid of Rs 2.21 billion.
Following another final call by the bidder, Tweaker Energy and Particle Igniter and CD Ventures engaged in a bidding war, with the latter currently leading the bidding with a bid of Rs 2.26 billion.
Tweaker Energy and Particle Igniter then called for a strategic deadline, following which they raised their bids to Rs. 2.30 billion, promoted by CD Ventures, after the closing call of Rs. 2.35 billion provided.
Wally Technologies Rs. 2.45 billion in bids, the bidding race intensified after another final call.
After the five-minute time limit, CD Ventures announced its withdrawal from the bidding race, leading to another final call by the bidder, which proved decisive as the bid remained intact.
As a result, Wally Technologies became the new owner of former champions Multan Sultans for the next 10 years.
Representatives of Wally Technologies received the celebratory key to ownership from PCB Chairman Naqvi, followed by the unveiling of the city’s name change from Multan to Rawalpindi.
For the non-qualifiers, the five bidders were shortlisted by the PCB bidding committee after receiving six proposals, following a “thorough and transparent” evaluation process.
Among the five qualified bidders is the franchise’s former owner Ali Tareen, who decided against renewing the decade-long franchise deal following the marquee league’s landmark 10th edition.
As a result, the PCB temporarily assumed control of the franchise and its chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that the cricket board would oversee the affairs of the former champions for the historic 11th edition of the marquee league, scheduled to be held from March 26 to May 3.
“Multan Sultans will be run by the PCB this year. Once the PSL is over, we will go through the bidding process and put the franchise up for sale. However, this season, the board will run the Sultans,” Naqvi said.
Meanwhile, the two new franchises, Hyderabad Houston Kingsmen and Sialkot Stallions, after successful bids, respectively, have received Rs. 1.75 billion and Rs. Acquired by FKS Group and OZ Developers for 1.85 billion.
As a result, the PCB last month issued an advertisement to attract interested parties and formally invited bids for the franchise.
The deadline for submission of documents for technical proposals has been fixed as January 30. The Cricket Board received six proposals out of which five were selected.
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