Chelsea takeover: Who are the four bidders left in the running?

FT Desk

26 Mar 2022 17:42 GMT
3 min read

Chelsea celebrate Christian Pulisic goal v Lille — © ProShots

Chelsea’s takeover is a step closer to completion, with four bidders having progressed to the next round of the process.

Article continues under the video

The Blues find themselves up for sale as a consequence of sanctions taken out against owner Roman Abramovich, who has had a number of assets frozen due to his alleged involvement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The bidding process is being handled by New York investment back the Raine Group. The UK government, meanwhile, will ensure none of the proceeds of the sale going to Abramovich.

Four bidders are now left in the race to become owner of the Blues, with Todd Boehly’s consortium, which includes Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, among the candidates to progress to this point. Similarly, the Ricketts family’s bid, which is not favoured by many Chelsea fans due to racist views expressed by the Chicago Cubs owners, also remains in the running.

The other two offers to have progressed are Stephen Pagliuca’s and that from Harris Blizter Sports & Entertainment, who are already part owners of Crystal Palace.

Among those to fail in the bidding process are Saudi Media Group, although it is reported that they may support one of the other bidders, and the Nick Candy consortium.

Who remains in the running to buy Chelsea?

Todd Boehly consortium

Ricketts family

Stephen Pagliuca

Harris Blizter Sports & Entertainment

When will Chelsea’s takeover happen?

There is no guarantee that the takeover will be completed quickly from this point, although a desire for the deal to be done as rapidly as possible is obvious given the financial problems that the situation is posing the club.

Now the Raine Group will study the proposals that are on the table to conduct due diligence over the possible future owners of Chelsea. They will also advise the club’s board over who they believe should be successful in their proposal, though it will ultimately be the board members who choose who will be successful in the takeover process.

The process is still likely to take a matter of weeks rather than days to conclude.