The former cricketer is the founder of A&W Capital, a boutique investment banking firm behind some of the recent mega deals in Indian sports, including IPL winners Gujarat Titans, and has been slowly but surely building a solid foundation in India
(right)Matthew Wheeler, founder, A&W Capital, and Paroksh Gupta, MD, A&W Capital
Image: Neha mithbawkar for Forbes India
Matthew Wheeler’s tryst with India happened in 1996. The former Northamptonshire cricketer dabbled in sports marketing and investment after his playing years. “I was always familiar with India,” says Wheeler, who was on the board and non-executive chairman of the Professional Cricketers Association in England and Wales till 2019. In 1996, one of his companies was involved in the TV production of the cricket World Cup, which was jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Back then, in India, the state-owned entity Doordarshan didn’t have the capability of producing world-class pictures and quality meant for international spectators.
“We flew equipment and people from London for the event,” Wheeler recalls. “That was my first introduction to India,” he says, adding that he always believed in the potential of Indian sports and economy. “I was waiting for the right time to set up operations in India,” he says. The moment came in late 2016, when he set up A&W Capital, an investment banking firm focussed on sports, gaming sectors and digital media in Mumbai. For four years, A&W Capital took baby steps toward making progress in the country, kept its focus on understanding the complex Indian sports landscape, and roped in Paroksh Gupta to head the India operations in early 2020.
A year later, in October 2021, came the 1996 World Cup-like moment for Wheeler and his upstart company. Global private equity firm CVC capital forked out ₹5,625 crore for the Ahmedabad team, one of the two new Indian Premier League (IPL) teams that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) added last year. Wheeler’s A&W Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to CVC Capital for the IPL franchise bid. “Between 2017 and March 2020, I came to India 30 times,” says Wheeler, underlining how he has been silently building operations in India. The idea, he reckons, is just to learn more about the country, listen to the people, do a bit of networking and look for opportunities.