Undeterred by the stiff financial norms imposed by Indian Premier League managers for the two new franchise teams coming up, more than 30 companies and individuals, including half a dozen foreign firms, have bought the Rs 5-lakh invitation to tender (ITT) from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

According to sources, Abu Dhabi United Group, Bukhatir Group (promoted by Sheikh Abdulrahman Bukhatir) and the Rotana Group (promoted by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal) from the United Arab Emirates are among foreign firms that have picked up the tender document, apart from a slew of domestic business houses and their promoters.

Names of Sahara Group, Jaypee Infra, ICICI Ventures and Anil Ambani and Amitabh Bachchan are already doing the rounds even though most firms have declined their participation in IPL team auctions. ?Several law firms have been engaged to understand the fine print of the documents. However, there are strict confidentiality clauses which prohibit making public the names of interested buyers for the two teams,? says a sports marketing consultant with the existing IPL teams. IPL III starts next week.

Last month, BCCI had floated the ITT to kick-start the bidding process for the two additional IPL teams. These teams will join the tournament next year.

This is significant because the ITT documents have apparently laid down stiff financial norms for the bidders. These include a minimum bid price of $225 million (around Rs 1,000 crore), up from $50 million for the February 2008 auctions. Additionally, the bidders have to submit a performance bank guarantee of $100 million before March 6 and another bank guarantee of the winning amount.

The winning bids for the two new IPL franchises will be announced in Mumbai on Sunday.

The two new franchise teams will come from 12 cities, including Pune, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur, Gwalior, Baroda, Cochin, Indore, Dharamsala, Vizag, Rajkot, and Cuttack.”BCCI has sold two-three ITT documents since its announcement. Most interested bidders fully understand the huge investments into the IPL teams but it?s more to do with the pride of owning an IPL team,” says an insider. BCCI had made available the ITT documents from February 22. ITT lays down the rules and norms for prospective bidders of the two additional teams that will be added to the existing eight from next year.