British Property Developer Nick Candy Tipped To Make $3.27 Billion Chelsea FC Offer This Week
Nick Candy is reportedly set to make an offer to buy Chelsea Football Club from Roman Abramovich in the coming days.
The 49-year-old is a British property developer who is married to former pop star and actress Holly Valance.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, Candy will submit an offer worth £2.5 billion ($3.27 billion) before the end of the week.
The report claims that Candy is only worth around £1.5 billion so his offer would be in conjunction with a partner or consortium.
Candy is a Chelsea fan and it is suggested that his knowledge of the club, his local property expertise and the fact he is already based in west London have made him very attractive to investors from the United States.
It is said that part of Candy's proposal to buy Chelsea will include plans for a £1.5 billion rebuild of Stamford Bridge.
Nick Candy and wife Holly Valance pictured at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival
IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
A spokesperson for Candy was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: "Nick Candy is actively exploring a number of options for a potential bid for Chelsea Football Club.
"Any bid would be made in conjunction with another party (or consortium) and we have serious interest from several international partners.
"Mr Candy has a huge affinity with Chelsea. His father was asked to play for the club and he has been watching matches at Stamford Bridge since the age of four.
"The club deserves a world class stadium and infrastructure and Mr Candy's unique expertise and background in real estate would be a hugely valuable asset to delivering this vision."
Chelsea have been officially for sale since March 2 when Abramovich released a statement outlining his intention to find a buyer.
Roman Abramovich, pictured at Stamford Bridge in 2015, has put Chelsea FC up for sale
IMAGO/Adam Davy
In the statement Abramovich said that he "will not be asking for any loans to be repaid." He also vowed to pass on "all net proceeds" from the sale to a new charitable foundation to help "all victims of the war in Ukraine".
This was the first time that Abramovich had publicly addressed the ongoing war in Ukraine since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched an invasion six days earlier.
Abramovich has come under scrutiny in UK parliament for his alleged links to Putin.
Labour MP Chris Bryant said in parliament on February 24 that Abramovich had been flagged as a person of interest by the UK's Home Office three years ago due to alleged links to the Russian state.
"I've got hold of a leaked document from 2019, from the Home Office, which says in relation to Mr Abramovich: 'As part of HMG's [Her Majesty's government] Russia strategy aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interest to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices,'" Bryant told the House of Commons.
Bryant went on to allege that Abramovich had previously admitted to paying for "political influence", before suggesting that the Russian should have some of his assets seized and should not be allowed to own Chelsea FC.
Abramovich denies having links to Putin's regime but it is understood that his motivation for selling Chelsea swiftly may be to avoid sanctions that could be imposed upon him.