The owners of the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family, are set to launch a bid for Chelsea after joining forces with the billionaire hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin.
Interested bidders have until Friday to submit takeover proposals to the Raine Group, the US bank handling the process, and the race to buy the club from Roman Abramovich is hotting up. The main interest has come from American-led groups and the Ricketts family went public with their interest, marking them out as serious rivals to a consortium fronted by Todd Boehly, Jonathan Goldstein and Hansjörg Wyss.
Chelsea, who need a sale to go through quickly, are not short of suitors with more interest materialising on Wednesday night. Sir Martin Broughton, the former chairman of British Airways, is planning to offer and has teamed up with Seb Coe.
Boehly, Goldstein and Wyss are waiting after bidding between £2bn and £2.5bn, the Saudi Media Group is expected to make an offer and there is strong interest from Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets. The British property tycoon Nick Candy, who launched a stinging attack on Boehly’s group on Wednesday, faces a race to finalise his takeover plans.
Candy, who is adamant he will make an offer, is in danger of being left behind by rival bidders. The Ricketts family have a longstanding interest in Chelsea, having tried to buy the club in 2018, and are confident they will succeed this time. They feel that teaming up with Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel Asset Management, will boost their chances. Griffin, 53, is valued by Forbes at $26.5bn (£20.2bn) and is operating in a private capacity.
The Ricketts believe their success with the Cubs proves they are good candidates. The baseball side won the World Series in 2016 and the family have overseen a major redevelopment of the team’s historic Wrigley Field, which suggests that they would not be overawed by the challenge of potentially renovating Stamford Bridge.
A spokesperson for the family said: “The Ricketts Family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, can confirm they will be leading an investment group that will make a formal bid for Chelsea Football Club this Friday (March 18).
“As long-time operators of an iconic professional sports team, the Ricketts Family and their partners understand the importance of investing for success on the pitch, while respecting the traditions of the club, the fans and the community. We look forward to sharing further details of our plans in due course.”
Some Chelsea fans voiced opposition to the bid after it emerged that Joe Ricketts, the family’s patriarch, was accused of Islamophobia three years ago. The billionaire wrote in an email exchange in 2019: “Muslims are naturally my (our) enemy due to their deep antagonism and bias against non-Muslims.”
The comments sparked a backlash against the family on Wednesday, with Chelsea fans on social media pointing out that Thomas Tuchel’s squad contains several Muslim players. However, it is understood that Joe Ricketts, who apologised for his comments at the time and insisted he did not hold bigoted views, will not be part of the bid. In 2019 Tom Ricketts, the face of the bid for Chelsea, distanced himself from the comments and said his father was not involved with the Cubs.
Another issue for the family could be that Tom Ricketts, Cubs executives and Raine formed a special purpose acquisition company in 2020. A source close to another bidder hopeful of buying Chelsea questioned whether that relationship with Raine could be a conflict of interest. The Ricketts consortium does not believe that to be the case.
Chelsea will be desperate to avoid any delays after the UK government imposed sactions on Abramovich in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The European champions are operating under a restrictive licence and risk falling into financial trouble if they are not bought soon.
As many as 200 groups have notified Raine of their interest. The frontrunners until now have been the Boehly-Goldstein-Wyss consortium, who are open to more investors joining their group.
Reports that Candy is ready to team up with Boehly, Wyss and Goldstein, who is a Tottenham fan, are incorrect. A spokesperson for Candy said: “There are no talks under way 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.”
Candy, who supports Chelsea, still plans to bid. Sources have said he has been approached by a number of investors and has the funds in place.
Raine remains hopeful a deal could go through by the end of this month and bidders have been given a chance to look at the club’s latest set of accounts and their wage bill. With any deal requiring final approval from the UK government, Raine wants to make the process as smooth as possible. Bidders will need to offer legal guarantees that they have enough funds to complete a deal.
