Billionaires interested in buying Chelsea Football Club have been told to approach the UK government with potential takeover proposals, after the sanctioning of its current oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich.
Fearing the threat of sanctions, Abramovich, 55, had been rushing to sell the club for more than £3bn, drawing interest from the British property magnate Nick Candy, the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, the US private equity billionaire and Crystal Palace shareholder Josh Harris, and the American part-owner of the LA Dodgers Todd Boehly.
On Thursday, the government froze Abramovich’s UK assets, including Chelsea FC and a portfolio of luxury properties including a £150m mansion yards from Kensington Palace, west London, and a £30m three-storey penthouse overlooking Stamford Bridge.
Abramovich was one of seven Russians with close links to Vladimir Putin that the government added to the sanctions list in a move designed to dramatically increase pressure on the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine. “The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands,” Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said. “They should hang their heads in shame.”
Chris Philp, the digital and technology minister, said on Friday that Abramovich would be prevented from selling the club but potential buyers could approach the government with proposals to buy the club as long as the Russian oligarch would not benefit from the deal.
“As the licence conditions are written today, the sale would not be allowed,” Philp told Sky News. “However, if a buyer emerged it would be open to that buyer or to that football club to approach the government and ask for the conditions to be varied in a way that allows that sale to take place.
“To be clear, no proposal would be accepted which saw the proceeds from any sale ending in an unrestricted bank account owned by Abramovich. He can’t benefit from the proceeds of any sale.”
Candy, who with his brother, Christian, developed the luxury One Hyde Park development, on Friday said he was considering submitting a bid to buy the club from the government.
“We are examining the details of yesterday’s announcement and we are still interested in making a bid,” his spokesperson said. “Clearly, this is a time of great uncertainty for all Chelsea fans. In our view, no one is the owner of a football club – you are the custodian of it for the fans and the community.”
Club executives met government officials on Thursday and are expected to continue talks in the coming days. A source in Westminster said the government believes a sale of the club should be possible to arrange with relative ease. It remains to be seen if the government intends to requisition Chelsea before allowing a sale to go through. It has been suggested that the proceed of the sale would be frozen or placed into a charitable fund.
Raine Group, the New York investment bank Abramovich appointed to sell the club, told bidders on Thursday that the sale had been “paused” while “the parties consider the implications of the developments and discuss next steps with the relevant UK authorities”.
As well as Candy, Wyss, Boehly and Harris, a number of other mostly US-based business people are understood to have formed consortiums to consider submitting bids.
Fears are mounting that Chelsea could collapse into administration if a sale is not agreed soon as sanctions prevent the club from collecting match-day income and sponsors begin to terminate contracts.
The club has been granted a special licence to allow it continue to play matches for the rest of the season but only season ticket holders and fans who have already bought tickets will be able to attend matches. Chelsea will only be allowed to make payments “essential to the continuation of the operation of the club”.
Three, the British telecoms company that is the team’s principal shirt sponsor, last night suspended its £40m-a-year partnership with the club. Hyundai, its shirt sleeve sponsor with a deal worth a reported £10m, said it was “assessing the situation with Chelsea FC”.
Nike, which signed a £900m 15-year sponsorship deal with the club in 2016, was reported to be “considering walking away”, according to the Mail.
Chelsea’s training kit sponsor, Trivago, said it would continue to support the club: “The uncertainty over the current ownership situation of Chelsea FC has been challenging. Moving forward, it is important to us to continue supporting the club, the fans and community along with the essential work that the Chelsea Foundation does to help those in need. We are looking forward to a transition of ownership as soon as possible and want to support the club in this process.”
