MUMBAI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Global private equity investors like KKR and Blackstone have a new investment hotspot in India: cricket.
The Indian Premier League, the world's richest cricket league, counts Bollywood stars, Indian tycoons and spirits maker Diageo among its backers, but is now attracting major private equity firms with the prospect of rapidly rising revenue and profits and massive viewership globally.
The business value of the league, popularly called the IPL, surged to a record $18.5 billion last year, U.S.-based investment bank Houlihan Lokey says.
That's much smaller than America's National Football League (NFL) valued at $227 billion and the National Basketball Association (NBA) worth $165 billion, but on a per-match basis the IPL is now the world's second-most valuable sports league after the NFL.
KKR and Blackstone are eyeing stakes in the winner of last season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), two banking sources said.
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