Saudi Media Group have not made it on to the shortlist of preferred bidders to buy , with US merchant bank Raine informing them that their offer has been unsuccessful.
Roman Abramovich has instructed Raine to oversee the process of selling the west club and they have been contacting unsuccessful bidders since last Friday, with an announcement confirming the successful bidders expected imminently.
While the Saudi offer was believed to be one of the biggest, Raine is looking at a variety of factors – not just value of the bid – to determine the best offer.
One of the factors thought to have worked against the Saudi bid was the potential difficulty in passing the fit and proper persons test – with Saudi’s Public Investment Fund taking a year to get approval to buy .
But Chelsea need a quick sale to ensure they can continue to operate, something an offer from Saudi Media Group could not guarantee.
SMG director Khalid Al Khudair, one of the members involved in the Saudi takeover bid who also happens to be a Chelsea fan, confirmed that the bid had been unsuccessful on Thursday.
He tweeted: ‘We did our best. Disappointed, but we will continue to bleed blue.’
Although Saudi Media Group will not make the shortlist to buy Chelsea, Al Khudair confirmed that the group would be open to giving financial backing to another, successful consortium as long as it ‘respects the fans and continues the legacy of the club’.
Al Khudair also opened the door to a potential future partnership with whoever is chosen as the new owner of Chelsea, saying the group would be happy to explore sponsorship opportunities with the club.
There is believed to be a degree of impatience among the many bidders trying to buy Chelsea over how long Raine have taken to announce the shortlist of offers which have made it through to the next stage.
Todd Boehly’s consortium are confident of being on the final list – believed to consist of either three or four bidders – while the Ricketts family are also expected to make it through despite significant backlash from supporters.
Chelsea’s issues have been eased slightly this week after Abramovich was given permission from the government to inject up to £30million into the club to keep them afloat, though ideally the west London club will have new owners by the end of April.
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