No dice.

The Board of Premiership Rugby had a scheduled meeting today which among other things considered options to support the next phase of growth for club rugby in England, including a £275m offer from CVC Capital Partners for a controlling stake in the competition.

The deal would have been the biggest of its kind in club rugby history, with former F1 owners CVC Capital Partners reportedly looking to buy a 51% share of England’s premier club rugby competition.

The deal valued Premiership Rugby at £550 million, and would have meant a huge windfall for the 12 Premiership clubs, with many suffering huge financial losses in recent years.

But a decision was reached this afternoon, with the board unanimously agreeing that “selling a majority stake was not the preferred option.”

“Premiership Rugby has seen very good growth over the last five years with revenues rising more than 80% – so the desire to accelerate that growth and expand internationally was reaffirmed by all clubs today,” said Premiership Rugby chairman, Ian Ritchie.

“We had a very positive Board discussion and considered a range of alternatives to accelerate investment in the Club game. The Board was unanimous on how to proceed and agreed that selling a majority stake was not the preferred option.

“We shall now develop these options further with our advisors and the interested parties ahead of the next Board meeting.”