Coca-Cola in early talks to buy a minority stake in IPTL

The title sponsor for this year's tennis tournament is said to be planning to enhance its association with the Mahesh Bhupathi-controlled league

The three-day International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), which recently saw top global tennis star Roger Federer taking on reigning number-one Novak Djokovic, surely created a stir among India’s 16,000 viewers who had thus far been starved of quality tennis. However, even as the tennis league hogged limelight, there was another story unfolding behind the scenes.

Beverage major Coca-Cola India had initiated preliminary talks to pick up a minority stake in the Mahesh Bhupathi-controlled company that had organised the tennis league. Those in the know say Coca-Cola’s plan could be to acquire about a 10 per cent stake.

On queries regarding the talks, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola India refused to comment, while Bhupathi did not respond to text messages.

If a deal is struck, it will make good sense for Coca-Cola, which was the title sponsor for the tournament this year. If an equity deal goes through, it will reflect the company has much deeper commitment to the tournament than being a sponsor.  According to industry sources, the title sponsorship for IPTL, being held in four countries, Singapore, the Philippines, India and UAE, went for Rs 5-6 crore.

Beverage companies are not new to sponsoring sport tournaments. Rival PepsiCo, for instance, had shelled out Rs 397 crore for the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament for five years. It had also beat Coca-Cola to bag the title sponsorship for the Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament. Coca-Cola India’s plan to buy a stake in a tournament, however, could change the rules of the game, a direct investment rather than sponsorship.

The first mover in terms of investing in the equity of a game, though, was STAR TV, which earlier restricted its role to only broadcasting. Among non-cricket sports, the broadcaster has, for instance, picked up a minority stake — in a joint venture with Reliance Industries and IMG — in the company that runs ISL.