Roman Abramovich plans to sell Chelsea | SOLD for £4.25BN

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made a late, sensational bid of more than £4 billion to buy Chelsea. The British billionaire sent the bid to the merchant bank which is conducting the process this morning.

The owner of Ineos, the petrochemicals giant, held discussions with Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman only yesterday and has launched a late attempt to beat off three American consortium.

"We put an offer in this morning," Ratcliffe told The Times. "We are the only British bid. Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London. We have no profit motive because we make our money in other ways."

Also wants to invest close to a minimum 2bn into the club/team over a 10yr period. And will send the money to close the deal this weekend if needed....and has also talked with the gov't

I dont understand why hes waited until now
 
cyberman said:
Why would anyone agree to this? This will take all summer imo, every chance investors walk away if this is the bullshit thats happening
Click to expand...

No idea mate, but it won't take all summer. It's in everyone's interest to get it resolved quickly and the current sanctions only run until the end of May.
 
ZolaWasMagic said:
and holds a ST at Chelsea... used to go regular before he went to France.
Click to expand...

Yeah but he’s a United fan. He’s from Oldham. Has spoken pretty regularly about United, and even buying the club.

Anyway he’d be a good owner as he’s a football fan however would definitely operate as a business and would want to make money. Would spell a big change in how you operate.

He’s spoken about the issues with Stamford Bridge before with regards to ownership of Chelsea and generally he sees no value from a business sense in owning a PL team. Possibly his mindset has changed but definitely wouldn’t be throwing money around and writing off debt.
 
TheReligion said:
I’m amazed this isn’t sorted yet. Seems counter productive and with the news that Rudiger and Christensen are going surely this needs clarity before the end of the season.
Click to expand...

I think a super quick sale would have given me more concern than a slightly dragged out process. The goal was always to finish the process up by mid May and it sounds like it's still on track to meet that goal.
 
ZolaWasMagic said:
you know Ratcliffe is a ST holder at Chelsea. Also likes Utd mind you. But he's bidding for the club he supports... its like me or you buying Chelsea/Utd
Click to expand...
Yes but it's also well known he is not an oligarch or a dictator using a countries money to do sports washing; he is a business man that will run the club to it's real abilities rather then loan money (to the club) to compete. He will do his best don't get me wrong, but the times of free spending are gone. You will be more like Pool and Arsenal. You do it right, you have success, you do it wrong, you finish 8th. No more room for writing out loses by just spending even more. This is normal BTW, I'm not making fun.
 
What would happen if he bought us in terms of us and Nice both being in the CL? Would it be allowed.

I'm sure i have seen both RB Leipzig and Salzburg both in CL, no?
 
WeePat said:
I think a super quick sale would have given me more concern than a slightly dragged out process. The goal was always to finish the process up by mid May and it sounds like it's still on track to meet that goal.
Click to expand...

Good point. A bit like us with our manager process!

Just concerned given the restrictions you have and the impact over a prolonged period
 
ZolaWasMagic said:
and holds a ST at Chelsea... used to go regular before he went to France.
Click to expand...
I'd be interested to know if he has multiple season tickets and where they are located. I know a fair few people (well their parents) who have season tickets to Arsenal / Spurs purely to take business partners.
 
macheda14 said:
I'd be interested to know if he has multiple season tickets and where they are located. I know a fair few people (well their parents) who have season tickets to Arsenal / Spurs purely to take business partners.
Click to expand...

He got the ST when he lived in London.
 
There goes the one chance for someone who might have been interested in buying United. If a billionaire United fan isn’t going to do it then nobody is. We’re going to be stuck with these absolute parasites forever ffs
 
Raine should tell him to do one if I'm honest. The deadline for bids was set, and I even remember a few months ago he said he wasn't interested in buying Chelsea.

"Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London."
Anyone else think this is weirdly worded too?
 
jackal&hyde said:
Yes but it's also well known he is not an oligarch or a dictator using a countries money to do sports washing; he is a business man that will run the club to it's real abilities rather then loan money (to the club) to compete. He will do his best don't get me wrong, but the times of free spending are gone. You will be more like Pool and Arsenal. You do it right, you have success, you do it wrong, you finish 8th. No more room for writing out loses by just spending even more. This is normal BTW, I'm not making fun.
Click to expand...

That's been established already. We knew that the minute Abramovich was forced to put the club up for sale. No other owners would come in and be like Abramovich unless they were state backed from the ME. All the groups in this bidding process will run the club like a normal club, for lack of a better word and and yes, that means functioning a lot like Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs and less like the Chelsea we've known in the last 20 years.
 
macheda14 said:
I'd be interested to know if he has multiple season tickets and where they are located. I know a fair few people (well their parents) who have season tickets to Arsenal / Spurs purely to take business partners.
Click to expand...
Gloating how rich his friends are
 
ZolaWasMagic said:
What would happen if he bought us in terms of us and Nice both being in the CL? Would it be allowed.

I'm sure i have seen both RB Leipzig and Salzburg both in CL, no?
Click to expand...

Same question applies to Pagliuca who co-owns Atalanta and the Palace guys who are part of the Broughton group who will have to sell their stakes in Crystal Palace. The fact that none of that has happened yet or at least publicly addressed is pretty wild, to be honest.
 
If Chelsea go for £4bn, how bloody much would it take for the Glazers to sell us?

All that bullshit about Abramhovic being happy to forget the £1.5bn loan is surely disproved now. The only way anyone is paying £4bn is if it includes him making all that back.
 
L1nk said:
There goes the one chance for someone who might have been interested in buying United. If a billionaire United fan isn’t going to do it then nobody is. We’re going to be stuck with these absolute parasites forever ffs
Click to expand...

I know right... depressing.
 
WeePat said:
That's been established already. We knew that the minute Abramovich was forced to put the club up for sale. No other owners would come in and be like Abramovich unless they were state backed from the ME. All the groups in this bidding process will run the club like a normal club, for lack of a better word and and yes, that means functioning a lot like Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs and less like the Chelsea we've known in the last 20 years.
Click to expand...
I know that you understand that but there are a lot of Chelsea fans out there that actually think that a new owner means things get back to normal.

I think it's important to state that what Chelsea has seen over the last 15 years or more, was not normal, it was financial doping, from a gangster, that Gary Neville has admired. Normal, will be a bit of a shock to many.
 
diarm said:
If Chelsea go for £4bn, how bloody much would it take for the Glazers to sell us?

All that bullshit about Abramhovic being happy to forget the £1.5bn loan is surely disproved now. The only way anyone is paying £4bn is if it includes him making all that back.
Click to expand...
We can only be bought by an Elon Musk type character that decides to make a PR exercise or a passion project; even dictators are beyond us. As a business we are unsellable imo.
 
1905 said:
Raine should tell him to do one if I'm honest. The deadline for bids was set, and I even remember a few months ago he said he wasn't interested in buying Chelsea.

"Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London."
Anyone else think this is weirdly worded too?
Click to expand...

Raine left open the possibility of a late offer if it was substantially more than the top bidders.
 
Zaphod2319 said:
Raine left open the possibility of a late offer if it was substantially more than the top bidders.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that, fair enough. If he gets it the other bidders will be fuming I'm guessing :lol:
 
£4bn is apparently the amount that the Glazers would be looking for if they sold up

So if a United fan is spending that on Chelsea, he can get fecked.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
£4bn is apparently the amount that the Glazers would be looking for if they sold up

So if a United fan is spending that on Chelsea, he can get fecked.
Click to expand...

Are the Glazers even interested in selling and giving up their cash cow?
 
WeePat said:
Are the Glazers even interested in selling and giving up their cash cow?
Click to expand...
Not actively. But I've seen it reported that they'd come to the table if £4bn was offered.

This Chelsea sale may either make them raise that valuation or realize they might be able to get good money for the club.

Knew Chelsea would luck out with a rich owner not looking for a profit.
 
jackal&hyde said:
If this is true, these lot are in it to make money. Gone are the days of massive spending.
Click to expand...
How do you make a return on 4bn of capital in football?

5% return on that is 200m. Here's a list of clubs and seasons that have posted that, in history:
 
Ratcliffe is the very first person many of us Chelsea supporters thought of when this whole process started as the favorite. The big surprise here is that he is only now coming in at the last minute. He expressed interest in buying the club years ago.

From the standpoint of maintaining our place competing with the other elite European sides, this may be the best possible outcome for us.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Not actively. But I've seen it reported that they'd come to the table if £4bn was offered.

This Chelsea sale may either make them raise that valuation or realize they might be able to get good money for the club.

Knew Chelsea would luck out with a rich owner not looking for a profit.
Click to expand...

It's certainly interesting because I haven't seen sale of this magnitude in football before. It could signal to other owners, like the Glazers, that they could have a legitimate out if they wanted one and if they thought no-one would ever put up 4bn then they now know that not to be true.
 
Beachryan said:
How do you make a return on 4bn of capital in football?

5% return on that is 200m. Here's a list of clubs and seasons that have posted that, in history:
Click to expand...
A combination of not being actually 4bn, a lot of the money coming through loans (that will be paid by the club, we know how), and having a long term perspective. Making a little bit of cash here and there while using the ownership of the club to improve other businesses. Point is, no toy club any more.
 
Zaphod2319 said:
Click to expand...


Hmmmn, that's not a £4.25b bid at all. It's a £2.5b bid with a vague promise to invest £1.75m more into the club.

The other bidders have also bid around £2.5b and said they will invest in the club, especially to solve the stadium issues, which are estimated to cost more than £1b.

I don't really see how this bid blows the others out of the water like some are claiming.
 
Orc said:
Ratcliffe is the very first person many of us Chelsea supporters thought of when this whole process started as the favorite. The big surprise here is that he is only now coming in at the last minute. He expressed interest in buying the club years ago.

From the standpoint of maintaining our place competing with the other elite European sides, this may be the best possible outcome for us.
Click to expand...

I can’t but help feel that if this is correct he had always intended to bid. If you recall the gossip was along the lines that the eventual owner would probably not be one-off the ones we hear about.

To even put it out there he has submitted a bid at this stage suggests to me that he must know the numbers and commitments that owner interested parties have put on the table.

Would cruise through the directors and owners test
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Not actively. But I've seen it reported that they'd come to the table if £4bn was offered.
Click to expand...
It looks like he’s ‘only’ bidding 2.5bn for Chelsea - the rest is a 1.75bn investment over 10 years. So we’d cost an additional 1.5bn. On top of that we have debt. And then there’s investment - well if you want to invest. You could just not invest ala Joel.
 
Powderfinger said:
Hmmmn, that's not a £4.25b bid at all. It's a £2.5b bid with a vague promise to invest £1.75m more into the club.

The other bidders have also bid around £2.5b and said they will invest in the club, especially to solve the stadium issues, which are estimated to cost more than £1b.

I don't really see how this bid blows the others out of the water like some are claiming.
Click to expand...

Not quite sure how the £1.75 billion is a vague promise

Bear in mind all the interested parties are told the offer has to be a cash offer with no debt being loaded on the club. It’s worth mentioning that a total rebuild will almost certainly cost over £1 billion but a stand by stand approach will cost way below that
 
TheReligion said:
Yeah but he’s a United fan. He’s from Oldham. Has spoken pretty regularly about United, and even buying the club.

Anyway he’d be a good owner as he’s a football fan however would definitely operate as a business and would want to make money. Would spell a big change in how you operate.

He’s spoken about the issues with Stamford Bridge before with regards to ownership of Chelsea and generally he sees no value from a business sense in owning a PL team. Possibly his mindset has changed but definitely wouldn’t be throwing money around and writing off debt.
Click to expand...
Chelsea are for sale, United aren't. The Glazers aren't letting go of their cash cow anytime soon, it would take a bid of around £8bil to turn their heads I reckon.
 
terraloo said:
Not quite sure how the £1.75 billion is a vague promise

Bear in mind all the interested parties are told the offer has to be a cash offer with no debt being loaded on the club. It’s worth mentioning that a total rebuild will almost certainly cost over £1 billion but a stand by stand approach will cost way below that
Click to expand...

It's a vague promise because once you own the club there is no entity with the legal standing to hold you to it.

I'm not saying that he wouldn't invest in a new stadium, just that talk is cheap when it comes to future investment. The actual price you pay for the club is what you're truly putting on the line. Everything else is to be determined at a later date.

In terms of the cost of the stadium, I'm sure a stand-by-stand approach would be cheaper but I don't know if it would solve the underlying issues. I would also think that you could take whatever estimate Roman had three years ago about the cost of a rebuild (reportedly over 1b) and once you add inflation, commodity price rises, and supply chain issues you are currently looking at a substantially higher number. How it looks in the future is uncertain but overall the cost is only going in one direction from the estimate Roman got, which is up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.