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Abramovich turns down sale approach

A report that started with the Wall Street Journal but has been reproduced in the British press suggests that Roman Abramovich has rebuffed an inquiry from an American billionaire about buying Chelsea.

The approach was made by Ted Boehly who is the head of a Connecticut-based private investment firm. He is part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. The £3 billion asking price for Chelsea would make a big dent in his $5bn fortune.

Anyone who is going to buy Chelsea needs deep pockets as they would need to redevelop Stamford Bridge. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain's richest man, had talks with Chelsea representatives, but considered the asking price to be poor value. He now owns Nice.

The Financial Times reported in August last year that Mr Abramovich had appointed Raine, a US merchant bank, to conduct a ‘strategic review’ of the club he bought in 2003, after receiving multiple offers from potential buyers. One of the offers came from Silver Lake who have now bought a stake in City Football Group.

Potential acquirers circled Chelsea last year amid an escalation in tensions between the UK and Russia following the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. Mr Abramovich later took Israeli citizenship after his application for a UK investor visa was delayed. Chelsea then shelved plans for a new £500m stadium in, citing an unfavourable investment climate.

Although he has not attended a Chelsea match since the visa delay, Mr Abramovich remains actively involved in club affairs and is happy to follow the team on television. The oligarch is prepared to consider offers that meet his £3bn valuation, the people said, but had yet to receive one.

'He’s not raring [to sell],' a person who helped Mr Abramovich buy the football club told the Pink 'Un. 'His asking price is prohibitive, but if he gets it, then maybe he will.'

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