https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/03/14/chelsea-tell-suitors-show-money-friday-takeover-deadline-looms/
Summary
Prospective buyers of Chelsea are being told to “show us the money” by the Raine group.
Interested parties (like Candy) are in a race against time to form consortiums and prepare bids.
Interested groups have been given access to Chelsea’s last set of accounts and their enormous wage bill to minimise the chance of the winning bidder stalling on a deal or pulling out
Raine Group hopes a sale could go through by the end of the month.
Due to the sanctions, Chelsea can not afford for the sale to be delayed by any problems over funding, particularly as the prospective buyer also needs government approval before being put through a Premier League owners’ and directors’ test.
Raine wants bids to be submitted by close of business on Friday
Raine also demand evidence of funds to be provided in the form of legally binding commitments. Any individual or group who cannot offer legal guarantees will be dismissed from the process and copies of bank statements will not be enough.
An industry expert told Telegraph Sport: “No matter how wealthy an individual or group is, when you are talking about the figures involved to buy Chelsea, it is not easy to document a legal commitment of funds from a standing start in such a relatively short space of time. This has to be done quickly or there is a risk the club will fall apart and there is too much transaction risk to take.”
Over 150 individuals and groups have made contact with Raine, the New York-based merchant bank, and a bid between £2billion and £2.5bn has been made by the Todd Boehly-led group. It is also understood there has been firm interest from the Ricketts family and Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets.
Nick Candy, who was at Stamford Bridge on Sunday to watch Chelsea beat Newcastle United, is still planning to make an offer of his own before the deadline that was pushed back from the original date of Tuesday.
Sources close to Candy claim he has been approached by a number of investors keen to partner with him and that there will be no shortage of capital from which he can make a bid. On Monday, the 49-year-old was said to be working out who the best partners would be to commit to working with.
While Antony Ressler is not expected to make his own offer for Chelsea, his investment company, Ares Management, has offered to provide some funding for groups bidding for the European champions.
Chelsea’s need for a quick deal, among other things, places doubt over a claim that a £2.7billion bid has been tabled by the Saudi Media Group, involving a private consortium fronted by Mohamed Al-khereiji who claims to have no Government links despite being pictured on several occasions with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Quickly picking through any Saudi-based consortium is rated by those close to the Chelsea sale as being extremely difficult with any bidder needing approval from Raine, the UK Government and the Premier League.
The Ricketts family have come under fire in Chicago, where they own the Cubs baseball team, for their reported interest in buying Chelsea. An article in the Chicago Sun-Times, the second biggest newspaper in Chicago, hit out at the Ricketts family, accusing them of making excuses for failing to invest in the Cubs.
Chelsea on Monday updated supporters that the club are pushing the Government to amend their operating licence to allow them to sell tickets, with fans who had not already done so by last Thursday still waiting to find out if they can buy a ticket for Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough.