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For sale: One Premier League club. Condition: Distressed. Value: US$2 billion-plus (A$2.7 billion).
Deadline day is Friday for bids to be submitted to buy Chelsea and end the 19-year ownership of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
This is a sale enforced on the oligarch after he was sanctioned by the British government for his close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine.
Who’s bidding?
A stream of bidders have gone public with their interest in buying the club which currently owns the titles of Champions League winners and FIFA World Club champions.
The Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs baseball team, have linked up with hedge fund manager Ken Griffin in a consortium. The family fortune was made by Joe Ricketts as chairman of electronic trading platform TD Ameritrade. His son, Tom Ricketts, is Cubs chairman.
Anther consortium weighing a bid features Todd Boehly, part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and Jonathan Goldstein, a London-based property investor who is CEO of Cain International. Danny Finkelstein, a columnist with The Times newspaper who sits in the House of Lords, is joining the bid.
“I’m really excited about the plans for fan involvement which I believe in strongly. I want Chelsea to be pioneers,” said Finkelstein in a statement.
Michael Broughton, former chairman of Liverpool and British Airways, is leading a consortium that includes track great Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, IOC member and a Chelsea fan.
British property developer Nick Candy has also expressed an interest in bidding and was very visible at Sunday’s Premier League game against Newcastle.
The latest interest was publicly registered by investment firm Aethel Partners, headed by Portuguese entrepreneur Ricardo Silva. It’s offered to inject £50 million ($A89 million) pounds immediately after a buyout to ease any cash-flow issues.
Who’s overseeing the sale?
The Raine Group, a New York-based investment bank. But it can only proceed with the approval of the British government, which is allowing the club to continue playing through a special license restricting its ability to spend and generate income.
What happens to the proceeds?
Abramovich cannot profit in any way from the sale, with his assets frozen in Britain.
He has said he would write off the loans of more than £1.5 billion ($A2.7 billion) from the funding he pumped into the club. That commitment was made as pressure grew on Abramovich following the start of the war three weeks ago but before he was sanctioned.
The funds of a sale could be placed into an escrow account until it is determined where they should go — potentially to a charity.
Before being sanctioned, Abramovich had said the proceeds would go into a foundation “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine.” Abramovich didn’t specify if Russians impacted could also benefit, and he has yet to condemn the war or Putin.
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