Chelsea are up for sale, with owner Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, enlisting the Raine Group, a New York investment bank, to find a buyer willing to meet his asking price of £3 billion for the reigning Champions League holders and FIFA Club World Cup champions.
For the super-wealthy individuals and private equity investment companies interested in buying a sporting franchise, the opportunity to own A-list football clubs as globally renowned as Chelsea rarely comes around. Sources have told ESPN that Raine Group have already received at least 300 expressions of interest from potential buyers. And although the vast majority of those will quickly be discounted as lacking the funds or business plan to buy the club — one of the Premier League’s most successful teams — sources have said that at least 10 are regarded as credible, with more expected to emerge before the…
