Roman Abramovich will sell the football club "Chelsea"

The oligarch wants to get 3 billion pounds sterling for him. Experts say the evacuation of the capital of the Yeltsin Family from Great Britain.
25.09.2018
RBC
Origin source
Billionaire Roman Abramovich is considering the possibility of selling Chelsea against the background of problems with the British visa and the possible consequences of US sanctions. This is written by Bloomberg referring to sources familiar with the situation.

According to the agency, he has already rejected proposals for the sale of a football club for $ 2.3 billion. Abramovich would like to receive $ 3 billion ($ 3.5 billion) for Chelsea, the agency writes. Although the transaction even for $ 2.3 billion would be a record for the sports teams.

Earlier this year, Abramovich hired New York's Raine Group LLC to advise on the possible full or partial sale of Chelsea.

Representatives of the businessman declined to comment on Bloomberg.

Close to the billionaire, interlocutors Bloomberg argue that Abramovich began restructuring assets to protect them in the event of US personal sanctions. In September, Abramovich and his partners transferred Evraz shares to other companies, at the same time he sold 0.05% of the shares of Crispian Investments Ltd, which owns a stake in Norilsk Nickel, its long-time partner David Davidovich. Thus, the share of Abramovich in Crispian fell to 49.95%, which should protect the company from automatically imposing sanctions in case the businessman himself gets on the sanctions lists.

Because of problems with issuing a British visa, Abramovich withdrew his application, writes Bloomberg. On May 28, a private Gulfstream G650 Abramovich plane landed in Tel Aviv, which the businessman left two days later, already a citizen of Israel. It is not known when a businessman applied for an Israeli passport. Abramovich was a major sponsor of the Jewish community in Russia and invested in Israeli start-ups. The citizenship of Israel allows Abramovich to enter Britain for up to six months without a visa.

If external factors force Abramovich to sell Chelsea, he will not be "happy", the agency refers to people who know the billionaire. "If you get to his home or on a yacht, there are screens in almost every room, where football is almost always shown," Bloomberg quotes one of the businessman's close partners.