As the deadline came and went for any confirmed bids for Chelsea, London-based firm Centricus confirmed that they were part of a consortium attempting to complete a takeover. Supported by hedge-fund manager Jonathan Lourie and businessman Bob Finch, the company announced their long-term commitment to the club.
In a video address shared by The Times, Centricus CEO Nizar Al-Bassam said : "We’ve looked at the club in the past. There have been occasions where there were rumours of the club being available but ultimately all those projects were shelved. Our bid is all domestic, we don’t have any foreign investors so we’re using domestic capital which I think is quite noteworthy. We all attend the matches with our kids.
“I don’t think any of us are coming purely because we’re fans or purely because we love football. It’s really driven by the commercial opportunities. But it is a long-term investment. For us, you simply can’t buy a club and expect to sell it in five or ten years. The expectations from the fans, the regulators, be it the FA or Premier League or from the Government, would be not to have a sale of this club in the next five or ten years.
