Yorkshire put private ownership plans on hold as focus turns to Hundred auction

Yorkshire have put on hold controversial plans to take the 162‑year‑old ­members’ club into private ownership.

In announcing his intention to demutualise the county last year the chair, Colin Graves, claimed that without “swift and decisive action” Yorkshire “will be fighting for its ­survival”, but the Guardian has learned that the process has been paused without the club securing the additional external investment it had been seeking.

Yorkshire’s priority is focusing on the Hundred auction on behalf of the Northern Superchargers, which could provide an alternative route to the finance needed to pay off debts to the Graves family which now stand at more than £20m.

The club is engaging with the ­England and Wales Cricket Board and the American bank the Raine Group over the imminent sale of 49% of the franchise in the Hundred auction, while planning to sell a significant share of the remaining 51% it will be gifted by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Yorkshire’s strong preference is to secure a partner from India for the Superchargers in the belief that it will give them access to the ­cricketing ­talent in the country as well as appeal to the large Indian community on the club’s doorstep. The club is understood to have attracted bids from several Indian Premier League franchises in the first two rounds of the auction and is planning to ­nominate Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings as preferred bidders.

In a complicated process all eight Hundred franchises have been asked to name at least two bidders in order of preference by the end of the month, with the ECB and Raine Group then taking over the process of pairing the teams with the new part-owners. In addition to all 10 IPL ­franchises there have also been bids for Hundred teams from several private equity firms including CVC Capital Partners, the Birmingham City owners Knighthead Capital and a group of Silicon Valley investors led by Nikesh Arora, chief executive of the cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks.

Colin Graves’ plans to demutualise Yorkshire sparked a backlash last year led by the Labour MP Alex Sobel. Photograph: Getty Images

The ECB is hopeful of agreeing the sale of 49% of all eight franchises by the start of the domestic season in April, although there are concerns that the ­governing body may not get a fair-market value offer for the Southern Brave, as their host venue Hampshire were last year bought by GMR Group, the ­part-owners of Delhi Capitals. The franchises would then be free to enter talks about selling the remaining 51%, so the process is likely to drag on all summer.

Yorkshire have not ruled out revisi­ting the demutualisation process, but sources involved have told the ­Guardian that it could be scrapped altogether if they raise enough money from the Hundred sale. The club has long-term debts of around £15m to the Graves family trust, while he injected a further £5m after ­returning as chair last year to help with running costs for the season.

Yorkshire held several meetings with members’ groups in an attempt to allay concerns about demutuali­sation over the winter, and will continue to meet ­supporters over the next few weeks, but a vote on the issue originally planned for this month will not take place. In order to demutualise at least 50% of ­Yorkshire’s 6,000 members would have to take part in a vote, of whom 75% must vote in favour.

All but three of the 18 first‑class counties – Hampshire, ­Durham and Northamptonshire – are ­member‑owned and Graves’s announcement of Yorkshire’s plan to become the fourth last May ­immediately sparked a backlash led by the Labour MP Alex Sobel.

“I will oppose the attempt to take the club from members and make it a private entity as it will be done for profit and to weaken accountability and long-term viability,” said Sobel, MP for Leeds North West. “Mr Graves said he had no future ambition to demutualise. Today he demands the members hand the club over to unnamed private owners.

“Yorkshire members have been made many false promises over the last few months. I ask them to hold their nerve and oppose demutualisation until at least after the awarding of the Hundred franchise.”

Graves wrote to Yorkshire members last May telling them their ­current status “continues to prove a blocker to attracting private ­financing” and that “demutuali­sation appears essential for the club’s future”.

Yorkshire CCC has declined to comment.