Chelsea current owner Roman Abramovich could lose up to £4billion worth of investment ahead of the expected sale of the club, according to Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol.
It is now just hours before the reported Friday 9pm (UK time) deadline for bids set by US-based merchant bank Raine Group who is in charge of the sale.
Solhekol claims that there have already been at least serious bids for the club and possibly several other bids which have not been reported by the media.
Raine Group is reportedly also in charge of whittling down the list of potential buyers to just a few preferred bidders before the UK government will get involved to make sure that the funds do not go to the sanctioned Abramovich.
Ahead of the reported deadline, Solhekol highlighted the potential financial losses Abramovich is facing.
“As far as Roman Abramovich is concerned, I have to say this is the worst time possible for him to be selling Chelsea if he sells Chelsea or forced to sell,” the reporter told Sky Sports.
“Because not only he will be writing off £1.5bn of loans he has made to the club, he also won’t be getting any proceeds from the sale. That could be £2.5bn.
“So he could be losing out £4bn if he does sell Chelsea in the next few days.”
Abramovich will remain a billionaire even regardless of these potential losses, but it is still a big financial hit, nonetheless.
To put it into perspective, according to Forbes, Abramovich’s net worth is around £10.3bn ($13.6bn), which means he could lose almost half of his assets based on Solhekol’s estimation.
From Chelsea’s point of view, however, a quick sale is practically the only way to survive considering the restrictions imposed on the club by both the UK and the EU government.
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