Chelsea have denied reports in a Sunday paper that the club is for sale. It was claimed that an emissary of Roman Abramovich had gone to the Middle East seeking potential purchasers. Chelsea are confident that the publication of their annual financial report for the year ending June 2008 next month will bring to an end rumours of this kind. They are expected to include a clause demonstrating the owner’s commitment. Abramovich e-mailed board members yesterday to reassure them that he had not authorised anyone to conduct negotiations on his behalf with regard to a potential sale.
Chelsea have denied reports in a Sunday paper that the club is for sale. It was claimed that an emissary of Roman Abramovich had gone to the Middle East seeking potential purchasers. Chelsea are confident that the publication of their annual financial report for the year ending June 2008 next month will bring to an end rumours of this kind. They are expected to include a clause demonstrating the owner’s commitment. Abramovich e-mailed board members yesterday to reassure them that he had not authorised anyone to conduct negotiations on his behalf with regard to a potential sale. He has sustained some losses in the credit crunch, and there has been some belt tightening at Chelsea, but he remains a very rich man. It has always been the club’s long-term intention to become less dependent on his largesse.
UPDATE: Bid Looms For ‘Not For Sale’ Chelsea FC – 24/1/09
Chelsea have emphasised that the club is not for sale, but Roman Abramovich’s determination to continue as owner of the Blues may be tested by a consortium of German investors which is being fronted by the man who led the Abu Dhabi royal family’s takeover of Manchester City. Dr Sulaiman al Fahim, who represented Sheikh Mansour in his £200m takeover of City, is understood to be working with a group of German investors and the Switzerland-based equity firm Falcon Equity on the bid. Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim said, ‘It would not be cheap … but through a number of investors, there is money available to put together a deal.’ The chief executive of Abu-Dhabi based Hydra Properties also chairs Falcon Equity, which is run by Holger Haims, former managing director of Deutsche Venture Capital. He commented, ‘I don’t believe anything is not for sale if you come up with the right price. It’s not about trying to buy a football club but about a business. You don’t make money because 11 guys run around the pitch, you make money because of all the other commercial aspects that go with a football club, particularly real estate and television rights.’