Visaka Industries Ltd, a Secunderabad-based manufacturer of corrugated cement fiber sheets and textile yarn, has acquired 10% in Singapore sports promotion firm Somerset Entertainment Ventures for Rs 12.50 crore.
Somerset Entertainment Ventures is engaged in the business of providing sports and hospitality-focused marketing and consultancy services including the acquisition and trading of sponsorship/marketing rights of various sporting properties.
Its board consists of Sandeep Bhammer (Chairman), Kunal Bhargava (Chief Operating Offier) and Christopher McDonald (ex-CEO of Ten Sports and Taj TV) among others.
Last July, Somerset Entertainment won the rights to develop Sri Lankan Cricket Premier League in collaboration with Total Sports Asia. The tournament comprises all formats of cricket, including the four-day, limited overs and T20 games and currently, has most of the top Sri Lankan cricketers from the national side participating in it each year representing various provinces. The tournament, which was previously known as the Inter-Provincial Tournament, will now be renamed the ‘Sri Lanka Premier League’.
Somerset Entertainment will be looking to duplicate the success of Indian Premier League that is into club cricket of T20 format which has become an over billion dollar franchise despite various controversies surrounding the management.
The Sri Lankan Premier League will also seek to attract foreign players to participate in all the formats of the cricket league. The tournaments will be played over two separate periods: the 50-over matches and T20 formats will be played in December & January while the four-day version will be played in July & August. This will ensure that it does not clash with the Indian Premier League.
