February 3rd, 2009
Shetty and her partner, the UK businessman Raj Kundra, have bought a 12 per cent stake in the team captained and coached by Sh ane Warne.
The deal provides evidence the IPL may be weathering the economic downturn after Shetty and Kundra paid $15.4 million for their stake, which values the Rajasthan franchise at around $140million, a significant increase on the $67 million its owners, Emerging Media, paid for it a year ago.
Manoj Badale, the British businessman and owner of Emerging Media, said "The selling of this stake is part of our long-term strategic approach to build the Rajasthan Royals into a global sports brand.
"Our resources are already focused on on-field investment in the key areas of player development infrastructure; international expansion; and to also support continued investment in our playing staff."
Shetty won Celebrity Big Brother in 2006 and is one of Bollywood's leading actors.
Her investment begins a week when the IPL will once take the spotlight with its second player auction due to be held in Goa on Friday where Kevin Pietersen could earn a contract worth up to $2 million.
Shetty's involvement is change of direction for the Royals who were proud of their underdog tag when they won the first IPL. They were the cheapest franchise and opted to build a team under Warne.
At the first IPL auction they shunned the big names, studied stats and decided to pursue lower profile cricketers with a point to prove such as Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir.
