The Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs baseball club, are the latest to confirm that they plan to bid for Chelsea after linking up with billionaire hedge fund controller Ken Griffin.
As first reported by Sky News, the Ricketts family will submit an offer to buy the club ahead of Friday's deadline. Raine Group, the US bank, is overseeing the sale process and will evaluate the best offers before approaching government to have the tems of Chelsea's special operating licence amended to allow a sale.
Yesterday football.london revealed that the government will not actively choose a preferred bid once they have received proof that the disqualified owner Roman Abramovich does not receive any money from the transaction. Once those expectations are met and the terms of the licence are changed, the prospective buyer will need to pass the Premier League's Owners' and Directors' Test.
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Griffin, 53 and from Florida, runs Citadel, a hedge fund that had previously been in talks with property developer Nick Candy about a separate bid. According to Forbes he is worth an estimated $26.5billion (£20.2billion). Citadel is not involved in the bid.
The Ricketts family have a net worth of a little more than $2billion and have owned the Cubs since 2009. But their intention to purchase Chelsea is unlikely to go down well among Cubs fans who have been critical of the way their team has been managed since winning the World Series in 2016.
Suggestions that Candy is looking to partner with the consortium headed up by Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss have been described as false. "There are no talks underway with Nick Candy and the Todd Boehly and Jonathan Goldstein consortium, not least because Mr Candy does not want a lifelong Spurs fan as part of the future ownership of Chelsea Football Club," a spokesman for the Tory donor said.
Boehly, Wyss and Jonathan Goldstein have already sent Raine a formal bid and were considered the early frontrunners. Several other bids are expected to be submitted in the next 48 hours, including from the Saudi Media group and a number of other American consortiums.
