The Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Sunday it had received financial guarantee from five interested bidders for Bangladesh Premier League franchises.
The deadline for submitting a pay order of Tk one-crore and a bank guarantee of Tk 4.5 crore ended on Sunday. But BCB said among the 11 new bidders, only three – DBL Group, Dhaka Dynamics representing Beximco and Axiom Technologies – could meet the deadline.
They were joined by two companies – I Sports Limited and Royal Sporting Limited – who had represented Rangpur Riders and Sylhet Royals respectively in the previous editions.
The BCB indicated that they might extend the deadline to give other interested parties to come up with proper financial back-up.
‘As you know that 12 [11] companies had expressed their interest, now if they have any valid reasons for submitting the money late, the BCB may accept that as well,’ said BCB’s chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury.
‘This is not a case about being flexible. The way the board thinks is that it wants to make the tournament successful. And that is our number one priority,’ he said.
New team that had submitted their expression of interest were – Beximco Group, Mediacom on behalf of Square, DBL Group, Sohana Group of Industries, Blues Communications, BBS Cables, Index Group, Axiom Technologies, Bengal Communications, Networld Bangladesh Limited and Fiber @home Limited.
Nizamuddin said that they have decided to give some more time to the interested bidders as some of them told the board that they are still trying to figure out the business module of BPL.
‘They are trying to understand the entire financial module and that is probably why they are taking time. Maybe they are working to understand on it,’ said Nizamuddin.
‘They want to stay with us, and discussed with us how they can stay with us,’ he said, adding that there will be no formal deadline further. ‘We have a BPL board meeting next week. Hopefully we will resolve all these issues by then,’
The BCB chief executive insisted that submitting the financial assurance alone will not guarantee that they will be awarded the ownership of a franchise as the BCB has few other issues to consider.
‘It’s absolutely a policy decision,’ he said.
‘Today five companies have come but they aren’t confirmed as yet. We have to see their documents and judge them properly before making a final decision. If there is a shortfall in any document then we will want to know more information.’
-With New Age input
