Potential buyers of Chelsea Football Club are still waiting for their bids to be processed by the New York-based bank overseeing the sale, which is sifting through various proposals for one of sports’ greatest brands.
The Raine Group set a deadline for bids to be filed last Friday, and has spent the days following assessing which ones will make the final cut. For Roman Abramovich’s club, a consortium led by Centricus Asset Management offered more than 3 billion pounds ($3.9 billion).
Earlier, on Wednesday, Saudi Media group had made a bid of $3.5 billion for the west London club so far.
The Associated Press reported that another possible bidder, Saudi businessman and Zedan Group Chairman Amr Zedan, was born in Los Angeles. According to The Athletic, consortiums formed by Todd Boehly, Woody Johnson, the Ricketts family, Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Josh Harris, and UK property billionaire Nick Candy are among the numerous would-be owners of the team.
Despite the uncertainties, the Ricketts group decided to press on with its efforts, putting preparations in place to meet Chelsea fan groups in London following some social media backlash.
Raine Group’s spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Chelsea has been owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for over two decades. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he placed the club up for sale, prompting the UK government to impose broad sanctions on him for his links to President Vladimir Putin’s administration.