LONDON (Reuters) -The owners of U.S. baseball team the Chicago Cubs have teamed up with Citadel founder Ken Griffin to work on a bid to buy English Premier League soccer club Chelsea, a spokesperson for Griffin said on Wednesday.
The Cubs’ owners, the Ricketts family and Griffin 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.
The Ricketts family said they would be leading the investment group making the bid.
“As long-time operators of an iconic professional sports team, the Ricketts Family and their partners understand the importance of investing for success on the pitch, while respecting the traditions of the club, the fans and the community,” the Ricketts family investor group said in a statement reported by the BBC.
Another interested bidder, Nick Candy, will be joined by a familiar face to Chelsea fans as former player and manager Gianluca Vialli said he was working with the British property developer on his proposal.
“I am proud and feel very privileged to support Mr Candy’s bid to buy Chelsea Football Club,” Vialli said in a statement, after it was announced the company he co-founded, Tifosy, will act as lead advisor for the process.
“I have met Nick Candy on a number of occasions over the last few weeks and I am fully behind his visions and commitment to make Chelsea the most globally recognised and supported club in the world, as well as maintaining the ongoing success on the pitch.”
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has also 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.
“He has the vision, acumen and financial backing to ensure our club’s future success, keeping Chelsea at the top of European football and challenging for trophies.
“But most importantly, like me, he is a lifelong Chelsea supporter and Shed End season-ticket holder. I know that this bid is for the millions of Chelsea fans around the world. We love our club and will always put the fans first.”
Chelsea were initially put up for sale by its owner Roman Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before sanctions were imposed on the Russian oligarch by the British government.
The European champions are currently operating under a special licence and are now effectively controlled by the British government.
Abramovich bought the club in 2003 for a reported 140 million pounds ($183.16 million). He had funded Chelsea via 1.5 billion pounds in total loans through Fordstam Limited, the entity through which he owns the club.
His investment resulted in the most successful era in their history as they won five Premier League titles, five FA Cups and the Champions League twice.
Chelsea are ranked by Forbes as the seventh most valuable club in world soccer at $3.2 billion.
The club are third in the league – 11 points behind leaders Manchester City.
($1 = 0.7644 pounds)
(Reporting by Peter Hall, Rohith Nair, William James and Shrivathsa Sridhar; Editing by Ed Osmond and Christopher Cushing)
