Misra unveils new Supersoakers owner

[sohum]

Speaking to us from his extravagant holiday home in Hawai'i, Supersoakers owner Sohum Misra gave us a few insights as to his future with the team and some of his goals in the coming seasons. Coming off the back of an unsuccessful season has played on the minds of a lot of the Soakers, some of whom are looking to transfer to a more successful franchise. Rookie star PaulNixon1 is the most high profile transfer-hopeful, looking to be traded into the FC specialist Melbourne Bitters outfit.

"I'm happy with the way our team is looking," Misra said. "We did not have the best of seasons and we've had some issues with leadership, but I don't think there's anything drastic to worry about, yet." Formerly captain, manager and owner of the team, Misra gave up two of those duties to an able deputy in w3lshrugby.

"w3lsh has taken over the helm remarkably, and even though it seemed that we may have had a below-average season, we still performed pretty well."

The Soakers finished 3rd in the FC ladder and tied for last in the OD ladder last season. Their OD game continues to suffer, which is surprising since they won the OD championship but two seasons back. Transfers and player morale has been cited as the reasons for continued below-par performance, but Misra is hopeful that the next season will see improvements, especially as players gather form off-season in the showy PCPL.

"The PCPL is definitely going to help our players out a lot, especially in the shorter version of the game. The smash-bang attitude of Twenty25 cricket will make OD cricket much more high-scoring and enthralling."

Those are not the only comments Misra had, as he decided to drop a teaser about his future plans of ownership with the Soakers.

"I have to admit, having looked at the PCPL and all it's glitz, it is quite appealing. I wanted to purchase a US-based franchise during the middle of last-season, but a financial crisis meant that I did not have that option."

That option may have opened up again, however, with the PCPL planning to expand to 8 teams and 2 divisions from the current 6-team 1-division affair. Misra is perfectly aware of this and said he is actually interested in one of the two new franchises.

"I definitely do not want to miss out on this opportunity again. In fact, I am planning to sell part-ownership or full-ownership rights to the Supersoakers to a party provided a good offer comes up. With the current rate of inflation, no amount of vCash is going to be enough to purchase a team, so it would certainly be nice to have extra cash."

He did not disclose what sort of offer he was looking for, but he did leave some thoughts to consider.

"The Soakers are a championship winning team. We have reached the FC final almost three years in a row, having come in third this time, and won the OD championship. Our talent is proven."

 

[Griffo]

Wow shows just how much people loved the PCPL

 

[Abhas]

Its all about the money

 

[smssia0112]

Interesting that you are willing to sell it despite being handed it for free

 

[sohum]

Interesting that you are willing to sell it despite being handed it for free

Aren't those the best investments?

Besides if vCash was anything like it is now, then, then I wouldn't even have been at the helm. So might as well be happy for the great alignment of events and make the best.

The current best offer I have is 700k and the bidder prefers to remain anonymous.

 

[sohum]

Bidding has gone up to 1,000,000 vCash.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

What the hell, that's quite a lot of money!

 

[Simbazz]

A PCPL spokeswoman has today announced that the PCPL are delighted that new bidders have shown thier interest in one of the new clubs.

"We've seen the PCPL take off this season, it hasnt run smoothly, but its been enjoyable through the good times, and even the bad! Its great to see Sohum wanting to gain the funds neccesary to put out a decent offer for either Highveld or Beijing."

In the news about selling a PCCL team, the PCPL board said,

"Its probably not orthodox to do so, but the PCPL is just basically following the changing times, we like to think as the PCPL as the T20 in modern cricket, whereas the PCCL is the Test cricket. The money to be had from PCPL is why it is so good! The PCCL is so very differnt but we're delighted to see people enjoy the PCPL!"

 

[vintners]

I would like to declare an interest in the ownership (or share) of the Soakers. I thoroughly enjoyed my debut season in the PCCL, topped off by finishing top of the scoring charts.(Still patiently awaiting the Soakers award party, Rhys!)

It's important to retain the essence of the game, whilst embracing new cash-driven ideas. While the PCPL is a very welcome addition to the sporting calendar, I feel it would not have the impact it has without the traditional forms of the game.

I would hope any sale of the team(not franchise) would take into consideration the memebers of the team.

 

[sohum]

I would like to declare an interest in the ownership (or share) of the Soakers. I thoroughly enjoyed my debut season in the PCCL, topped off by finishing top of the scoring charts.(Still patiently awaiting the Soakers award party, Rhys!)

It's important to retain the essence of the game, whilst embracing new cash-driven ideas. While the PCPL is a very welcome addition to the sporting calendar, I feel it would not have the impact it has without the traditional forms of the game.

I would hope any sale of the team(not franchise) would take into consideration the memebers of the team.

Indeed. I am going to post an article later detailing the agreements of the sale. Current bidders will have the opportunity to withdraw their bid if they are not in agreement.

sohummisra added 36 Minutes and 18 Seconds later...

Misra formalizes plans of Supersoakers sale
By all reports, there has been quite a lot of interest in the PCCL Supersoakers franchise after owner Sohum Misra made the disclosure that he had plans to sell the franchise to invest in the popular and successful PCPL. While it initially seemed that Misra would be looking for a buyout from a single investor, he has since released plans of a more formal, public ownership of the franchise. In the first time in Cricsim history, a team is going to sell shares of its ownership to whoever wants to buy them.

"After I made public my plans to sell the company, a few people got in touch with me with plans to buy the franchise. I was able to get a fair idea of how much the franchise is worth in the eyes of the public."

Reports suggest that investors were valuing the Supersoakers franchise in the range of about V$ 1m.

However, Misra made a complete u-turn on his decision to sell the franchise off completely, citing "personal connections" with the Soakers history and traditions as a reason to hold on to it. As a result, Misra is going to retain 50% ownership of the Soakers and sell the remaining 50% to the public.

"The highest single-bidder investment I got was V$ 1m. I figure that with the cost spread out over many investors, I could probably raise more money."

As a result, he is going to be selling 10000 shares of Supersoakers ownership at a price of V$ 200 per share. In order to preserve balance in the management of the franchise as well as to make the accounting a little easier, no single investor can purchase more than 10% of the ownership, but must purchase at least 100 shares. This means that investors can invest between V$ 20,000 and V$ 400,000 in the franchise.

What are the perks of investment? After all, why would anyone put their vCash into a team that they cannot have major control over? Misra has an answer to these questions as well. He has released the following perks that investors will be entitled to:

- Vote on management decisions (such as captaincy and recruitment) based on the percentage of ownership
- Payout of V$ 5 per share for every Soakers victory (that means investors can make up to $20,000 on every Soakers victory)
- Highly liquid funds--you can sell your shares back to Misra and receive your original investment amount back (minus any payouts made) within 1 week
- Prioritized placement on the beta testing list for Misra's new venture, the PC Cricket Simulator

In addition to this, depending on Misra's success with the purchase of a PCPL franchise, he will also offer the following future returns on investment:

- Opportunities for discounted and free sponsorship in the PCPL franchise
- Sharing of any earned PCPL prize money with investors based on percentage of ownership
- Vote on management decisions based on percentage of ownership
- Prioritized recruitment into the team as a player (if you are an investor, you will be more likely to be recruited by the PCPL franchise)

Misra added that you did not have to be a current Soakers member to invest in the franchise, although Soakers members would have unlisted perks, such as choosing team line-ups. Allowing someone from another team to vote on Soakers line-ups could lead to a conflict of interest, in Misra's opinion.

Shares would go on sale on Monday, according to Misra. "I am still fine-tuning the details of the oferring. Depending on the interest exhibited by this offer, I may be announcing other perks. Depending on the success of the venture, I may be making investments more valuable by making greater payouts."

This definitely seems like a new dawn for the Supersoakers. The man behind it all has shown that he has not lost his touch in coming up with new ideas to make the Supersoakers the best team to be associated with in the PCCS.

 

[Highlander999]

I bid a goat and my wife's twice removed cousin. I'm willing to throw in a daughter for marriage as well.

Beat that

 

[sohum]

I bid a goat and my wife's twice removed cousin. I'm willing to throw in a daughter for marriage as well.

Beat that

I'm afraid I cannot make payouts out of those artefacts.

 

[Highlander999]

I'll throw in a potion that let's you contact the spirits of your ancestors but that is my final offer

 

[vintners]

I'd like to reserve the maximum allocation please.

 

[Griffo]

So what you trying to do is get vcash for a percentage of a team which wont allow you to make any difference whatsoever it will just guarntee you a place in what has been a pretty inactive side..

I know you wanna stay with the side but at least trust someone else to be commited to the cause