Chelsea
Abramovich to be tested in German buy-out proposal
STAMFORD BRIDGE
By dixon9
January 23 2009
A German consortium of investors headed by Dr Sulaiman al Fahim will ask Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich if they can prepare a proposal to buy the club. Abramovich has invested around £600m in Chelsea in players and facilities since he first bought the club for £140m in 2003 but has always considered the club as a source of enjoyment and a legacy rather than a financial investment.
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Al Fahim represented Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi royal family in his £200m takeover of Manchester City and could be working with the Switzerland-based private equity firm Falcon Equity to formulate the proposal to buy the club.
"It's not entirely clear if Chelsea is for sale, but regardless of that, we first need to see if we are in a position to buy it,"
"Given that Roman Abramovich has invested over £500m into the club, it would not be cheap, and with the current credit crunch, nobody wants to be over-exposed on one deal. But through a number of investors, there is money available to put together a deal."
Group of German investors
The five man German investment group have looked at other European clubs in the past.
"We have looked before at some European clubs to see if the numbers added up, and now we are doing the same with Chelsea,” said managing partner Holger Heims.
"I don't believe anything is ever not for sale if you come up with the right price. It's not about trying to buy a football team but about a business. You don't make money because 11 guys run around the pitch, you make money because of all the other commercial aspects that go with a football club, particularly real estate and television rights."
Another Glazer or Hicks and Gilet?
“…particularly real estate...” – so we don´t need three guesses to wonder how they want to make money out of Chelsea – move the club to a new stadium, load the debt onto the fans as has been done with Man Utd and Liverpool and attempt to sell some of the most prime land in the country (I say “attempt” because there is the small matter of Chelsea Pitch Owners set up by Ken Bates to contend with).
Constant speculation and wishful thinking
Ever since Abramovich purchased Chelsea the media and oppo fans have been hoping that he would get fed up, sell us and then we would be (in their minds) in deep do do, but despite recent more intense speculation our owner seems more resolute than ever that he will be at Chelsea for the long term.
This was emphasised recently when Kenyon re-iterated that the club was not for sale and then Abramovich himself issued a writ against the Sunday Times for running a story that he was looking to sell us.
This will be the first time that Abramovich has faced any enquiry to see if he wants to sell Chelsea and last faced competition for the purchase of the club from Ken Bates when a group headed by Bernie Ecclestone and others tried to buy us in 2003.
Chelsea sale doubtful
I have no doubt that Abramovich won’t sell. The club is probably around 1-2 years from breaking even and the strides made by Chelsea on the field in terms of success and off the field in infrastructure are very significant. He watches Chelsea whenever he can, no matter where he is and has spoken of how he hates it when we lose.
Unlike other owners he has done nothing but provide and invest rather whilst others have done nothing but take and despite the recent credit cruch Chelsea FC represents only a small part of his total portfolio. It is also felt likely that Abramovich will also convert his substantial investment into equity in the near future leaving Chelsea FC debt free.
The good times have only just started and the future seems bright and he admits that he didn’t buy Chelsea to make money, so…Why sell now?
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You will know the story is true, if Chelsea drop the case..
Don't Gamble, Bet Risk Free
I just don´t see Roman being silly enough to sue for something he is actually doing.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Time will tell and 'the truth is out there.'
Don't Gamble, Bet Risk Free
If Sky (Murdoch) are the first running the story it may be a little dig at Roman to look better in court when he takes the Times (Murdoch) to court for damages.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Arabian Business
Don't Gamble, Bet Risk Free
I would expect a denial sometime today on the official website.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
NO! It´s BUNGLEMAN!
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:01:23:07:58:44 by dixon9.
Chelsea are suing the Sunday Times in the high court after they reported Mr A WAS gonna sell.
We will have to wait to see what the club say.
Don't Gamble, Bet Risk Free
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
one question to be picky,in headline,surely,and imo,you dont ask if you can prepare a proposal you just do it and then put it to them,,only my oppinion but i no im write
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
daily mail here i come
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
750mill in star,, that be tempting a roman.
why does kenyon do all romans talking,,why does he not come out and put your minds at rest himself. i no he private bloke like but would only take 2mins.
(1) Just taking the Sunday Times to court for saying that he was trying to sell us
and
(2) going to make some form of announcement when the financials are released next month.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
"Our financial accounts for 2007-08 are published in February, and any notions about the owner losing interest are dispelled in that.
"The owner does not have to sell Chelsea and he doesn't want to."
LINK
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
but personally RA has been spot on for us, is a proper fan as well as an owner and with the new policy on blooding our kids through, it's clearly not about instant success any more.. it's building for a long term viable profitable future, with chelsea being self sufficient...
which the media will hate.
--
on a slight aside... maybe money citeh will need to sign kenyon? and if they want drogba too, how about 50m for the pair? throw in malouda for free!!
Quote:turkish
in some ways, RA selling to some Arabs might be a good thing in terms of being able to spend big money on bringing in David Villa, fabiano and the like etc etc..
I´m not so sure. They will be wanting to maximise their potential profit and don´t seem that bothered about the football side; "You don-t make money from 11 players running around..." "...it´s about real estate..." (which shows them as naive about football - success on the field is one of the most important factors to generate income). They seem to me to be similar to Hicks and Gilet - could be lots of promises but little delivery - with us paying for them to buy the club.
Quote:turkish
but personally RA has been spot on for us, is a proper fan as well as an owner and with the new policy on blooding our kids through, it's clearly not about instant success any more.. it's building for a long term viable profitable future, with chelsea being self sufficient...
which the media will hate.
Agree 100%!
Not only the media but hoards of oppo fans will have to eat humble pie.
And don´t forget, in the future, all going to plan, there will still be the odd big buy as has been said many a time by Kenyon,
Quote:turkish
on a slight aside... maybe money citeh will need to sign kenyon? and if they want drogba too, how about 50m for the pair? throw in malouda for free!!
A sort of a "bargain bucket"? Lol!
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
What a prize plumb this bloke sounds! He can´t mount a hostile takeover as Roman owns all the club!
LINK
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
.
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
around £600m in Chelsea in players and facilities since he first bought the
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