Billionaire beer heir and George Osborne enter the fray in Chelsea sale race
An American billionaire beer heir and former chancellor George Osborne have joined separate bids to buy Chelsea Football Club, with a decision on the sale now expected this month.
Sky News reports Alejandro Santo Domingo, who sits on the board of Budweiser owner AB InBev, is a part of an investor group led by ex-Liverpool FC and British Airways chair Sir Martin Broughton, while Osborne is helping advise a bid organised by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital.
Osborne’s close friend, and former adviser to a string of Tory leaders, Lord Danny Finkelstein is reportedly being lined up as a Chelsea board member if the Boehly-Clearlake bid is successful.
Santo Domingo, worth £2.5bn and a former director of SABMiller before its £78bn takeover by AB InBev, would be a minority shareholder in Chelsea if Broughton’s consortium is successful.
UK sanctions against Abramovich have meant the virtual government seizure of Chelsea Football Club, with the Treasury set to order a special licence to sell the club without any proceeds going to the Russian oligarch.
Merchant bank The Raine Group, who is handling the sale for the government, is now expected to make a recommendation on which bid to choose in the coming weeks.
There are now three bidders being considered – the Broughton consortium, the Boehly-Clearlake Capital bid and a group being led by Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca and NBA chair Larry Tanenbaum.
It is now expected that the club will be sold for around £2.5bn, which would be a world record.