MY ACCOUNT
Chelsea’s takeover talks have no chance of being completed in 10 days, according to a lawyer involved in the recent sale of Newcastle United.
Nick de Marco QC worked on the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of Newcastle, which saw the Public Investment Fund (PIF) take an 80 per cent stake in the club last October.
The bid was headed by PCP Capital Partners’ Amanda Staveley and RB Sports & Media’ Reuben brothers’, but stalled as it waited for Premier League approval.
Concerns over the separation between Saudi Arabia and its PIF had long been cited as an issue but were eventually settled after the league received “legally binding assurances”.
Chelsea are now up for sale after Blues owner Roman Abramovich, who had his assets frozen after being sanctioned by the UK government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, announced his intentions to move on.
Prospective bidders are circulating from the United States and the United Kingdom, with British billionaire Nick Candy, the Chicago Cubs’ owners the Ricketts family, and London-based investment firm Centricus all reportedly lodging their interest.
Investment firm Raine Group is overseeing the process to sell the club, with any funds to be directed to a charitable organisation or into a frozen account, but De Marco warned against expecting rapid solutions.
He said to Sky Sports on Monday: “The fastest a takeover can go through is 10 days according to the Premier League?
“Well I can tell you I wish Mr [Richard] Masters [Premier League chief executive] had said that to us, and I suspect a lot of Newcastle fans feel the same – because that lasted for well over a year.
“Of course, there were complicated issues in that case. But the issues in this case [at Chelsea] are even more complicated.
“However, there’s probably a lot more goodwill in this case. Chelsea needs to be sold and it needs to be done quickly. It won’t be done in 10 days though.”
De Marco also believes the Chelsea sale will breach untouched ground, given the UK government are expected to be involved in dealings with Abramovich out of the picture.
“It would seem completely wrong to me for Abramovich to have any say at all in what bid was accepted because that means he is having influence over his assets,” he continued.
“The sanctions stop that and as I said, the Premier League disqualification stops that, so I think it would probably have to be the government – which itself is a very unusual situation, an unprecedented scenario in English football.
“It means if the government is in control of who Chelsea is sold to, and for how much money, they themselves are operating as an owner of Chelsea under the Premier League’s test. It really raises questions that have not been raised before.”
