Four Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise owners yesterday were confirmed as “strategic partners” by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for teams in The Hundred and will gain operational control by October 1 this year.

The sport’s governing body in England said in a release that the deals with these partners, which includes India’s GMR, Sun TV Network Limited, RPSG Group and Reliance Group, will unlock “hundreds of millions of pounds for game-wide growth”, a PTI report from London stated.

The ECB said two more partners, including Reliance Group, for a stake in the Oval Invincibles are set for “a formal completion at (a) later date”.

These IPL team owners had acquired their respective stakes in The Hundred’s teams over recent months. The Hundred is a 100-ball cricket tournament managed by ECB.

Some of them, including the owners of Mumbai Indians, Lucknow SuperGiants and Sunrisers Hyderabad, own teams competing in South Africa’s premier T20 competition SA20.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today confirmed a landmark achievement in the evolution of The Hundred, with deals now complete with the first six strategic partners for The Hundred teams,” the board said.

“The remaining two are set for formal completion at a later date. They remain on track, in line with the ECB having offered investors the option of completing later,” the statement added. While RPSG Group, which owns the Lucknow SuperGiants, will have a 70 per cent stake in Manchester Originals, the Sun TV Network Limited, the owners of the Sunrisers Hyderabad, will have a 100 per cent ownership of the Northern Superchargers.

The GMR Group, which co-owns the Delhi Capitals team, will have a 49 per cent stake in the Southern Brave team. The other deals include Tech Titans having a 49 per cent stake in London Spirit, Knighthead Capital Management, LLC on behalf of its investors ‘Knighthead’ having a similar 49 per cent stake of Birmingham Phoenix, and Washington Freedom having a 49 per cent stake in Welsh Fire.

The ECB said two deals which remain on track to formally complete later on include Reliance Group’s 49 per cent stake in the Oval Invincibles and Cain international & Ares Management’s 49 per cent stake in the Trent Rockets.

“This pivotal moment sees The Hundred become the first UK sports competition to secure franchise partnerships of this scale, drawing on world-class expertise from across global sport, media, technology, and finance,” the ECB said.

The ECB said an amount exceeding 500 million pounds will be shared between professional counties and the “grassroots game” when all the deals are complete.