- Following is a list of confirmed bidders that have announced they will seek to buy English soccer club Chelsea after Russian team owner Roman Abramovich was hit by UK government sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
NICK CANDY, HANA FINANCIAL INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED AND C&P SPORTS LIMITED
South Korea companies Hana Financial Investment Company Limited and C&P Sports Limited have joined forces with British Property developer Nick Candy to make a bid for Chelsea.
Candy, a lifelong Chelsea fan, has also been joined by former Blues player and manager Gianluca Vialli as he prepares his bid.
Sky News reported that a central part of Candy's pitch to buy Chelsea was the proposal to offer a seat on the board to fans and he was in talks with financiers about them joining his bid ahead of a deadline for offers at the end of the week.
He will also offer short-term funding if Chelsea face a cash crunch, the report added.
Hana Financial Group is the title sponsor of the Korean Football League and the national soccer team.
C&P Sports has worked on commercial deals with several big clubs in the last 10 years, such as Kumhos Tyres with Tottenham Hotspur, Nexen Tyre with Manchester City and Hyundai Motors with Atletico Madrid.
AETHEL PARTNERS
London-based financial firm Aethel Partners said they have put in a bid of over two billion pounds for Chelsea, adding that they will provide the club with an immediate sum of 50 million pounds to deal with any short-term financial issues.
Aethel Partners was established in 2014. It was founded by Ricardo Santos Silva, former deputy president of hedge fund Lyxor Asset Management, and Aba Rosa Schubert, who was previously a partner at Eton Park Capital Management, a hedge fund.
MARTIN BROUGHTON AND SEBASTIAN COE
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has joined a consortium including former Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton that hopes to buy Chelsea.
"I am certain Sir Martin is the right man to lead Chelsea Football Club into its next chapter," Coe said in a statement to British media.
Broughton is the deputy chairman of International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways and Iberia.
THE RICKETTS FAMILY AND KEN GRIFFIN
The owners of U.S. baseball team the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family, have teamed up with Citadel founder Ken Griffin to work on a bid to buy Chelsea, a spokesperson for Griffin said.
The Ricketts family expressed interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Italian club AC Milan in 2018.
They have formed an investment group which is set to make a formal offer for the London club on Friday.
Reuters has been told the bid does not involve Citadel, the hedge fund business, only Griffin.
HANSJOERG WYSS AND TODD BOEHLY
Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss, who had expressed interest in purchasing Chelsea along with LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly, told Swiss newspaper Blick that he remained interested in a deal.
Wyss, 86, made a large share of his fortune by selling med-tech company Synthes Holding AG to Johnson & Johnson in 2012 for nearly $20 billion.
Boehly previously considered making a takeover offer for Tottenham Hotspur in 2014 through Cain Hoy Enterprises, a U.S. private investment company, of which he is one of the founders.
Conservative peer Daniel Finkelstein said he was also a part of the bid.
"I'm passionate about Chelsea to the point of eccentricity," Finkelstein wrote on Twitter. "I want owners who will invest but are also insightful and use modern methods to keep our club on top of the world."
($1 = 0.7593 pounds)