An advisor to Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea has insisted that the process will not be “rushed”.
Joe Ravitch, the co-founder of investment bank Raine Group LLC, has been asked by the Premier League club to help find a buyer - with the asking price set at £3billion.
In a discussion with Reuters news agency, the broker outlined the desire to find a balance between securing a fair price and finding the “best steward” for Chelsea and its supporters.
“We are not going to rush anything,” he said. “It is very important that Chelsea have the right owner to guide the club forward.”
Reuters report on a source familiar with the sale that bids are expected over the next month before a preferred buyer is chosen. Already, it is said, a £2.5bn offer has been rejected.
Among the billionaires already tipped to try and take over the Blues are billionaires Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss.
Ravitch, who is fluent in Russian, has spent years building up a global clientele. A United States national, he worked with the first president of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin's government in the 1990s as lawyer for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, advising on how to draft laws on private property ownership.
Ravitch then spent 16 years with stints in New York, Hong Kong and London as a banker at Goldman Sachs, where he helped launch the Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network and create NBA China, before co-founding Raine in 2009 with Jeff Sine, a former senior banker at Morgan Stanley.
At Raine, Ravitch worked on a series of deals for the Football Group, which owns the Premier League leaders Manchester City. He also advised Alibaba vice chairman Joe Tsai on gaining full control of NBA team Brooklyn Nets in a deal that valued the team at £1.76billion in 2019.
Ravitch started to work with Chelsea in 2018 on a range of deals, including a stadium investment, media rights and joint ventures in China.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
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