Jim Ratcliffe

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of petrochemical giant Ineos, has made a sensational last-gasp bid to buy Chelsea.

The club is rooted in its community and its fans. And it is our intention to invest in Chelsea FC for that reason.” “And we hope to continue to invest in the academy to provide opportunity for talented youngsters to develop into first class players. We believe that London should have a club that reflects the stature of the city. We believe that a club is bigger than its owners who are temporary custodians of a great tradition. “This is a British bid, for a British club.

We'll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chelsea FC PLC news every morning. British petrochemicals tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe has lined up ...

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made a bid to buy Chelsea on a day when Steve Pagliuca has been told his consortium is no longer in the running.

Ineos said in a statement: “Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of Ineos, has made a formal bid for Chelsea FC, for £4.25bn. £2.5bn is committed to the Charitable Trust to support victims of the war, with £1.75bn committed to investment directly into the club over the next 10 years. “One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club.” Ratcliffe, the owner of the British petrochemicals company Ineos, told the Times: “We put an offer in this morning.

The late bid by Ratcliffe, the chief executive of Ineos, for the Premier League soccer club would be the highest price ever paid for a sports team.

“One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club.” Chelsea expects to lose two key defenders, Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen, when their contracts expire at the end of the season, and any talks about replacing them cannot take place until a replacement for Abramovich is found. As part of his offer, Ratcliffe pledged 2.5 billion pounds, or $3.1 billion, to a charitable trust “to support the victims of the war.” That language is similar to that used by Abramovich when he first announced he was putting the club up for sale. The strategy was expensive — Abramovich has absorbed about $2 billion in losses during his tenure as owner — but successful: Chelsea enjoyed the biggest period of success in its history, becoming a serial contender for both domestic and international honors as well as the world’s best talent, and winning five Premier League and two European championships. Raine has not commented during the bidding process, beyond an interview in which Ravitch made the startling — and as yet unsubstantiated — claim to the Financial Times that Chelsea and other Premier League teams could be worth $10 billion within five years. Deadlines for final bids were extended on several occasions, and then late this week the three investment groups remaining in the process were told to increase their offers by a further $600 million. Ratcliffe, a self-described fan of Chelsea’s Premier League rival Manchester United since his school days, is worth $10.6 billion, according to an index of the world’s richest people compiled by Bloomberg. Chelsea would not be Ratcliffe’s first foray into sports investment, or even soccer. For Chelsea’s players, staff and fans, a sale cannot come soon enough. His offer will most likely be out of reach of the three bidders who were already being considered by the Raine Group, the New York-based merchant bank Chelsea has enlisted to handle the sale. Ratcliffe’s arrival has upended that process, but choosing him could make the sale speedier than it would have been. The club is rooted in its community and its fans. Under Abramovich, Chelsea has become one of the biggest and most successful teams in global soccer.

The Ineos boss is understood to have held talks with Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck on Thursday, and submitted what now represents the biggest offer for the ...

Pagliuca was the first to be told his candidacy had failed. And it is our intention to invest in Chelsea FC for that reason.” “This is a British bid, for a British club. One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club. We believe that a club is bigger than its owners who are temporary custodians of a great tradition. We do that with our core businesses.

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The club is rooted in its community and its fans. And it is our intention to invest in Chelsea FC for that reason.” We believe that a club is bigger than its owners who are temporary custodians of a great tradition. “This is a British bid, for a British club. “And we hope to continue to invest in the academy to provide opportunity for talented youngsters to develop into first class players. That is why we are committing to spending £1.75bn over 10 years that will be for the direct benefit of the club.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of Ineos, has tabled a bid to buy Chelsea from Blues owner Roman Abramovich.

And it is our intention to invest in Chelsea FC for that reason.” One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club. We do that with our core businesses. “This is a British bid, for a British club. We believe that a club is bigger than its owners who are temporary custodians of a great tradition. “We will invest in Stamford Bridge to make it a world-class stadium, befitting of Chelsea FC. This will be organic and ongoing so that we will not move away from the home of Chelsea and risk losing the support of loyal fans

A spokesperson for Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirmed the offer to buy Chelsea: This is a British bid, for a British club; Boston Celtics owner Stephen Pagliuca ...

"The big question then is what happens to the £4bn? Because Abramovich is not allowed to get one penny from the proceeds of this sale. "If he was to buy Chelsea, you couldn't have a situation where Nice and Chelsea were playing in the Champions League, that wouldn't be allowed under UEFA rules. If you picked up the phone and got in touch with the Raine Group and put in a bid after the deadline, they were always going listen to what you have to say. "Significantly, he says he's got the money ready to go. The feeling was he wasn't the kind of person that was going to pay two, three, four billion pounds for a football club. "This is a twist in the tale. We need to be a bit careful because when you're as rich as Jim Radcliffe is, you invest your money wisely do he must think it's a good investment. "We should point out this was a story first reported by Matt Dickinson in The Times maybe about 90 minutes ago. One that is held in the same regard as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. We intend Chelsea to be that club. The club is rooted in its community and its fans. And it is our intention to invest in Chelsea FC for that reason. "We are the only British bid.

A decision around the preferred buyer to take over from Roman Abramovich was said to be imminent but the head of petrochemical giant INEOS has thrown a huge ...

"We believe that London should have a lub that reflects the stature of the city." An INEOS statement confirming the offer said that £2.5bn wil be committed to a charitable trust to support victims of the war in Ukraine with the remaining £1.75bn committed to investing in the club for the next 10 years. "We will continue to invest in the team to ensure we have a first class suad of the world's greatest players, coaches and support staff, in the men's and women's game," the statement added. In the summer of 2019 the company bought Ligue 1 club Nice for about €100m. Three shortlisted consortiums, all led by Americans, had been expecting to hear a final answer around which would be put forward as the preferred bidder but Ratcliffe's last-gasp bid could change matters. Our motives are simply to try and create a very fine club in London. We have no profit motive because we make our money in other ways.”

The British billionaire has made a late bid for Chelsea following Roman Abramovich's decision to sell and has released a statement confirming his interest ...

The club is rooted in its community and its fans. “And we hope to continue to invest in the academy to provide opportunity for talented youngsters to develop into first-class players. “This will be organic and on-going so that we will not move away from the home of Chelsea and risk losing the support of loyal fans. We believe that London should have a club that reflects the stature of the city. We will invest in Stamford Bridge to make it a world-class stadium, befitting of Chelsea FC. “This is a British bid, for a British club.

The British billionaire had distanced himself from a bid for Chelsea in early March, with his brother Bob reiterating previous determination at Ineos not to be ...

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Chelsea will make the trip to Goodison Park to take on former boss Frank Lampard’s Everton on Sunday, with the Blues inching closer to a third-place Premier League finish. Britain’s richest man Ratcliffe confirmed a last-ditch £4.25billion offer to buy Chelsea on Friday however, tabled at the very tail-end of the sale process. Ineos owner Ratcliffe carried out extensive due diligence on Chelsea in 2019 only to opt against submitting a formal offer to buy the west London club. Todd Boehly’s consortium is understood to remain on course to be confirmed as the preferred bidder and then handed the opportunity to seal a Stamford Bridge takeover. Ratcliffe confirmed a last-ditch £4.25billion offer to buy Chelsea on Friday