LONDON – Following is a list of confirmed bidders who have announced bids for English soccer club Chelsea after Russian team owner Roman Abramovich was hit by UK government sanctions following Russia’s military operation in Ukraine:
NICK CANDY, HANA FINANCIAL INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED AND C&P SPORTS LIMITED
South Korea companies Hana Financial Investment Company Limited and C&P Sports Limited have joined forces with British Property developer Nick Candy to make a bid for Chelsea.
Candy, a lifelong Chelsea fan, has also been joined by former Blues player and manager Gianluca Vialli as he prepares his bid.
Sky News reported that a central part of Candy’s pitch to buy Chelsea was the proposal to offer a seat on the board to fans and he was in talks with financiers about them joining his bid ahead of a deadline for offers at the end of the week.
He would also offer short-term funding if Chelsea face a cash crunch, the report added.
Hana Financial Group is the title sponsor of the Korean Football League and the national soccer team.
C&P Sports has worked on commercial deals with several big clubs in the last 10 years, such as Kumhos Tyres with Tottenham Hotspur, Nexen Tyre with Manchester City and Hyundai Motors with Atletico Madrid.
AETHEL PARTNERS
London-based financial firm Aethel Partners said they had put in a bid of more than two billion pounds for Chelsea, adding that they would provide the club with an immediate sum of 50 million pounds ($65.90 million) to deal with any short-term financial issues.
Aethel Partners was established in 2014. It was founded by Ricardo Santos Silva, former deputy president of hedge fund Lyxor Asset Management, and Aba Rosa Schubert, who was previously a partner at Eton Park Capital Management, a hedge fund.
MARTIN BROUGHTON AND SEBASTIAN COE
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has joined a consortium including former Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton that hopes to buy Chelsea.
“I am certain Sir Martin is the right man to lead Chelsea Football Club into its next chapter,” Coe said in a statement to British media.
Former British Airways chairman Broughton said his consortium comprised wealthy investors from around the world, all of whom wanted to maintain the club’s top status.
“It’s a group of individuals from around the world… highly capitalised. This will be all their own money, no exit timelines, and from four or five continents,” Broughton said of his group in a BBC radio interview.
Broughton declined to say how much his group had bid but said it was competitive, adding that his consortium was open to Chelsea fans buying shares in the club.
THE RICKETTS FAMILY AND KEN GRIFFIN
The owners of U.S. baseball team the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family, have made a bid for Chelsea, in conjunction with Citadel founder Ken Griffin.
The Ricketts family expressed interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Italian club AC Milan in 2018.
They have formed an investment group to make a formal offer for the London club.
Reuters has been told the bid does not involve Citadel, the hedge fund business, only Griffin.
HANSJOERG WYSS AND TODD BOEHLY
Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss, who has linked up with LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly, British businessman Jonathan Goldstein and Conservative peer Daniel Finkelstein, has also submitted an offer, a source close to the dealings told Reuters.
Wyss, 86, made a large share of his fortune by selling med-tech company Synthes Holding AG to Johnson & Johnson in 2012 for nearly $20 billion.
Boehly previously considered making a takeover offer for Tottenham Hotspur in 2014 through Cain Hoy Enterprises, a US private investment company, of which he is one of the founders.
“I’m passionate about Chelsea to the point of eccentricity,” Finkelstein wrote on Twitter. “I want owners who will invest but are also insightful and use modern methods to keep our club on top of the world.”
