Shilpa Shetty buys stake in IPL's Rajasthan Royals

Film star Shilpa Shetty and her business partner Raj Kundra today bought about 12 per cent stake in the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals Jaipur for $16.8 million (about Rs 80.6 crore).

Shetty thus becomes the fourth Bollywood star after Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Preity Zinta to buy a stake in IPL teams.

With this deal, the valuation of Rajasthan Royals has more than doubled to around $140 million in about one year since the cricket franchisee was bought at last year's auction for $67 million, the lowest price paid by its owners Emerging Media (in which Lachlan Murdoch has a stake). The highest price tag for a franchise team was $112 million paid for Mumbai Indian team owned by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries.

This move puts a question-mark on the high valuation of $175-200 million, which was expected by the Deccan Chargers Hyderabad--a team promoted by media firm Deccan Chronicle--that has been on a lookout for strategic investors and buyers since the past few months. While Rajasthan Royals were the winners of IPL in 2008, Deccan Chargers ended in the bottom of the heap on their match-performance all through the 46-days tournament held between April and June, 2008.

IPL is a Twenty20 format cricket event promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in which 8 franchise teams representing as many cities participated last year. As per the orginial schedule, IPL tournament will continue for the next 9 years. The second round of the popular format is expected to kick off in May this year.

Rajasthan Royals was also among the two profitable teams (after Kolkata Knight Riders co-owned by film actor Shahrukh Khan) and made a net profit of about Rs 6 crore. Explains Anirban Das Blah, vice president and co-founder of Globosports, a sports marketing firm: "All smart investors are investing at this time because of good valuation of companies. Ultimetly, its a financial decision that is aimed at financial returns. And I think only two teams have shown the potential for investments - Rajasthan Royals and Knight Riders - because of the professional manner in which they are being run."

With their investments, Shetty and Kundra, a UK-based entrepreneur and the CEO of Essential General Trading LLC, a Dubai-based international trading company with multiple business interest, have now become the co-owners of Rajasthan Royal's IPL team that is led by former-Australian spinner Shane Warne and has international stars like South African skipper Graeme Smith, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, and Indian cricketers like Mohommad Kaif and Yusaf Pathan in its fold.

Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Shetty said: "It is an honour to be associated with Rajasthan Royals, I hope for a re-run from them this time too. I would help by provding my expertise in merchandising and music videos-basically develop the creative part of the franchisee."

Shetty, who came into the limelight after winning the popular UK show "Big Brother" turned entrepreneur a couple of years back when she launched her own company S2 Global Productions. Her company is producing films and has launched Shetty's own perfume -S2- and her DVD on yoga and fitness.