The deadline for taking over Chelsea FC is fixed!
According to the British daily newspaper “The Times”, the Premier League club of still owner Roman Abramovich (55) will submit a selected purchase offer from a bidder to the government in London in the week starting April 18 for approval.
The Raine Group, the US commercial bank handling the sale of the Blues, reported this to the shortlisted consortia.
According to the letter, the binding and final offers must be submitted by April 11, one day before the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Real Madrid. It is up to each group to decide whether they want to increase their original offer. However, bidders must commit at least £1billion towards future investment to take over the club.
The proposals will be reviewed by the Raine Group and the three-man Chelsea executive team, which is overseeing the process in Abramovich’s absence.
According to Sky Sport News, interested parties include the Ricketts family (owners of the American baseball team Chicago Cubs from the MLB), Todd Boehly (co-owner of the LA Dodgers from the MLB), Sir Martin Broughton (former chairman of British Airways). and Liverpool FC) and Atalanta co-owner Stephen Pagliuca.
Nick Candy (luxury real estate developer and lifelong Chelsea fan) is also said to be harboring hopes of a takeover. His last offer is said to have been excluded from the process.
Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich announced in early March that he wanted to sell Chelsea. The British government had previously imposed strict sanctions on the owner because he is said to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin (69). In 2003, the oligarch bought the Premier League club, which according to current estimates is said to be worth at least two billion pounds (2.4 billion euros).
Although the British government recently relaxed the conditions against the club of coach Thomas Tuchel (48), the club can again sell tickets to its fans for away games in the Premier League, Champions League and the FA Cup. At home games, only season ticket holders and away fans are allowed into the stadium. But as before, Chelsea are not allowed to make transfers and generally make money.
