Athletic understands that Boehly’s team, which includes Dodgers co-owner Mark Walters and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, has not yet reached an exclusivity agreement and while they theoretically have a week to complete a deal, the process has taken on a whole new look. . Boehly’s consortium was in competition with two other groups to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich, who put it up for sale shortly before he was sanctioned for alleged links to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine. It is understood that the total offer of the Boehly consortium exceeded 4 billion pounds. That includes a commitment to spend 1,5 1.5 billion on the development of the club and Stamford Bridge, in addition to Raine’s valuation of around λι 2.5 billion. But now another credible offer has emerged, which did not follow the long process. Ratcliffe, the owner of Ineos, the petrochemical giant, had talks with Chelsea president Bruce Buck on Thursday before making his offer. “We made an offer (on Friday) in the morning,” Ratcliffe told the Times. “We are the only British offer. Our motivation is just to try to create a very good club in London. We have no incentive to profit because we make our money in other ways. “ Here we explain what happened on another great day for Chelsea and what it means for the future ownership of the club. Ratcliffe’s offer for Chelsea was late, but is it late? Put it this way, if you verbally agree to sell your home to someone who has contacted your real estate agent, looked around a few times and responded to the price you asked for, you ignore someone who knocks on your door and says “I will pay more” and can I do it tomorrow “? Well done if you are old enough to keep this original agreement, but not many do. Gazumping is annoying when it happens to you but it is not illegal. The sale process in Chelsea is managed by the American bank Raine Group. Operating under unprecedented circumstances, he has successfully disposed of the club, eliminated time lovers and organized a three-horse race between large investor unions, most of which have considerable experience in managing sports teams. As sales progressed, it was calm and thoughtful. In fact, Raine clearly felt he had done his job by Friday when he contacted the two failed bidders – the team backed by Crystal Palace co-owners David Blitzer and Josh Harris, led by Boston Celtics co-owner , Steve Pagliuca – and told them he was going with the gang led by Boehly. We assume the discussion went a bit like “okay guys, but let’s go with the guy who has been trying to buy Chelsea for years and does not close his eyes this week when we asked you to guarantee another 500 500 million for Roman’s charity fund” . But as America woke up, Ratcliffe told the Times that he was willing to put ,5 2.5 billion into Abramovich’s charity and commit 1, 1.75 billion £ to rebuild the stadium and subsidize the club over the next 10 years. As his next press release states: “This is a British offer for a British club.” Athletic understands that this offer went directly to Chelsea, not to Raine. The bank seemed to ignore the details of Ratcliffe’s offer a few hours after the American business newspapers were crowned Boehly champions. To be fair, there are not many details in Ratcliffe’s statement – it is more of a mission statement than a fully funded offer – but there is no doubt that they did not see it coming. We understand that Ratcliffe decided to go into battle only this week, but he quickly made himself able to do what he thinks is the most exciting offer. For example, he has spoken to the British government, which has a veto over the sale. He appears to have been in London this week, possibly talking to his bankers. However, he has not found time to speak to any fan group. “Ratcliffe can win if he really wants to because he will be backed by Ineos and could simply increase the corporate credit line to finance this market,” said a source who has worked with the British businessman in the past. “Boehly and the others have to deal with their union members.” Ineos made 1, 1.7 billion in profit after taxes last year. There is no doubt that Ratcliffe can afford Chelsea and he is believed to be confident that he can close this deal in a few days. Time is short after all. Chelsea fulfills its games only because it has been given a special operating license. It expires at the end of May. So he has time, but only if Raine is willing to tell Boelli, Blitzer, Harris, Paglioukas and all the other billionaires who followed his schedule that it is not personal, but 25 4.25 billion from the richest Britain’s fan – who happens to be a patriot who supports Brexit, waving the flag, even though he lives in Monaco – exceeds 4 4 billion from a collection of American businessmen and private equity funds. Is Ratcliffe serious then? Can you build a global petrochemical giant, amass a fortune of more than 12 12 billion and vacation at the North and South Pole without taking it seriously? Yes, we think it’s safe to say that a guy who started his life in a townhouse in Oldham, but now splits his time between Monaco and luxury homes on the Hampshire coast and on the shores of Lake Geneva, is serious for the purchase of companies. He built Ineos, the world’s fourth-largest chemical producer, buying more than 20 companies, factories and refineries in a decade. The 69-year-old British woman is good at this. For most of his career, Ratcliffe remained out of the limelight. But the often-controversial nature of his business, his controversies with unions and governments, and, it must be said, his astonishing success are gaining more and more attention. He has started spending his money on projects that call for control, namely sports. He bought FC Lausanne-Sport in 2017, shortly after local authorities pledged to build a new stadium for them, and then teamed up with Olympic sailing champion Sir Ben Ainslie to compete for the America’s Cup, a patriotic game that cost him more than 100. Million. In 2019, he bought the most successful cycling suit in the world, Team Sky, bringing back Team Ineos. The name change did not seem to slow down the British-based team, they won the Tour de France that summer and took on another French prize later that year when they bought Ligue 1 Nice. Ratcliffe financial support helped Egan Bernal win the Tour de France for Ineos in 2019 (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Since then, he has funded Eliud Kipchoge’s successful attempt to run a marathon in less than two hours, became Mercedes’ main F1 teammate and began donating rugby union All Blacks. And now, he’s back for Chelsea. Because shortly before Ratcliffe chose Nice’s cheapest option – more convenient for his official tax base – he conducted a polite inquiry into Chelsea’s availability. A Manchester United fan as a boy, the tycoon held season tickets to Stamford Bridge as an adult. But he and Abramovich, another who made his fortune from fossils, could not agree on a price in 2019. The Russian wanted ,5 2.5 billion, but that was before anyone could talk about charities, frozen assets or decades. infrastructure commitments. Ratcliffe told him it was too much and he spent 80 80 million in Nice. Three years later, with Abramovich’s time in London, Ratcliffe seems to believe the. 2.5 billion advance is suitable for the world and European champions. Synchronization is everything. Does this mean we should expect more last minute offers? Well, we did not expect that, so it would be foolish to say that another one was impossible. But it is difficult to see where they would come from. The Raine process seems to have upset all the US-based sports entrepreneurs who want to add a Premier League team to their portfolios at the moment, and offers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have not gone far beyond that. Twitter. It is possible, we suppose, that we have now reached a difficult time and everyone is talking about a sum of 2 2.5 billion for the club / charity plus 1,5 1.5 billion £ about keeping Chelsea in the way it’s been. get used to it, there are all the ingredients to get in and be a master. Someone like Elon Musk, for example, but seems to be stuck on Twitter. Perhaps the bidding teams that wanted to participate in the Raine process could be redefined. After all, they are all unions of like-minded people, some of whom have done business together in the past. But how much drama does a club acquisition epic need? There is more than enough here for the “fly-on-the-wall” documentary. What does this mean for Ratcliffe’s stake in Nice? Oh, finally, an easy one. For now nothing. It means as much as Harris and Blitzer’s stake in Crystal Palace or Pagliuca’s stake in the Italian team Atalanta – a bridge we may need to cross, but let’s not miss. But for the sake of this exercise, if Ratcliffe buys Chelsea, he can not keep Nis. Not unless he wants to turn one or the other into a farm team with no ambitions to compete in European inter-club competitions. Nis, for its value, is fifth in Ligue 1 and will play Nantes in the French Cup final next month. They are having a good season. Lausanne-Sport, on the other hand, stinks. It is certain that they will be relegated to the second division of Switzerland. He can keep them. (Picture above: Getty Images)
