Chelsea sale: Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has made 11th-hour bid to buy club
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said he has made a bid to buy Chelsea, two weeks after the deadline for offers.
Ratcliffe, the owner of the British petrochemicals company Ineos, told the Times: “We put an offer in this morning. 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.”
Three consortiums have been in the running to buy the club, which is owned by Roman Abramovich.
One is led by the co-owner of the LA Dodgers, Todd Boehly; a second is fronted by Sir Martin Broughton and Sebastian Coe – both of whom are British – and has received backing from the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team, Josh Harris and David Blitzer; and the other is led by the Boston Celtics’ co-owner Steve Pagliuca.
The merits of each offer are being assessed by Abramovich and Chelsea’s board, and Raine, the American bank handling the sale, will take a preferred bidder to the UK government for approval.
Read more on theguardian.com
