Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest billionaire, is said to have had his £4.25 billion bid for Chelsea FC ‘rejected out of hand.’
On Friday, April 29, the 69-year-old, who is the CEO of the Ineos Group Ltd, made a last-minute £4.25 billion proposal to buy the Blu#es.
Unfortunately, it is believed that Ratcliffe has not followed the Raine Group’s protocol, making his bid impossible to accept, according to Sky Sports.
The Raine Group has selected a group led by American businessman Todd Boehly as the preferred bidders, and they have until the end of this week to finalize the details of a purchase deal.
The Premier League is currently reviewing the bid, to see if it satisfies its ownership and management requirement.
“We’ve been rejected out of hand by Raine,” Ineos director Tom Crotty told Bloomberg on Wednesday, “but we’ll keep reminding people we’re still here.”
Two other bidders are still in the running for the club: one led by Sir Martin Broughton, the former Liverpool and British Airways chairman, and billionaire Crystal Palace shareholders Dave Blitzer and Josh Harris, and another led by Stephen Pagliuca, a part-owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Serie A’s Atalanta.
Before Boehly’s group was chosen, Ratcliffe was informed that he was not the selected bidder.
This was his second attempt to buy the west London club, following coming close to doing so in 2019 but rejecting Roman Abramovich’s £2.5 billion asking price.