Deccan Chargers  turn down  sole bid for franchise

The auction for the IPL Deccan Chargers franchise on Thursday has ended in an anti-climax with the team's owners rejecting the sole bid they received. This leaves the franchise's future up in the air, with the BCCI 's working committee meeting on Saturday likely to take a decision on its next course of action.

The solitary bid reportedly came from PVP Ventures, a company that finances film projects in India. No details were made public but reports said the offer was for Rs 900 crore ($164 million). Only three bidders had evinced interest to buy the Chargers: besides PVP Ventures, RPG Group and Jaypee Group also bought the bid document. However on the day of the auction only PVP turned up.

If the board does scrap Chargers' contract then it will encash the bank guarantee of the franchise to settle the dues of the players. Most players and coaching staff are reportedly yet to receive 85% of their contracted amount.

A positive outcome today could have changed that but it is understood that while DCHL were happy to go with the offer, the company's lending banks, rejected it. "The lenders [banks] and the owner [DCHL] could not come to an agreement over the mode of payment proposed by the bidder," the official said.

The official said the banks were not happy with PVP's plan to divide the bid amount in two parts over the next ten years. "They said they would pay Rs 450 crores ($82 million) in the next five years, at the rate of 90 crore per annum, and the rest in 2022," the official said. The banks' reluctance, the official said, could stem from the fact that they stood to receive the sale proceeds - which, in this case, would be staggered.