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▲ This photo shows the Chelsea Football Club of England Premier League. (Yonhap) |
LONDON, March 19 (Yonhap) -- Hana Financial Group, a major Seoul-based lender, is taking action to purchase the English Premier League club, Chelsea.
British property developer Nick Candy said on Friday that he will form a consortium with Hana Financial Group and participate in the bidding for the acquisition of Chelsea, according to Reuters news.
Sky News also reported that Hana Financial Group and a sports management firm C&P Sports were in discussion of joining Candy’s bidding group, the Blue Football Consortium.
According to Sky News, the Blue Football Consortium said, "I can confirm that the two South Korean firms Hana Financial Group and C&P Sports Group are a significant part of Mr. Candy's global consortium of investors,” adding, "Their involvement is representative of Chelsea's global brand and huge loyal fanbase in Asia."
The bidding window for Chelsea closed at 9 pm on Friday.
The news channel reported that Candy, a lifelong fan of Chelsea, was eager to form a consortium to buy the club. Candy also signed an advisory contract with the former Chelsea player-manager Gianluca Vialli.
While running a luxury real estate development company with his brother, Candy made a lot of money by buying old buildings in downtown London and redeveloping them into super-expensive houses.
Candy has placed a penthouse in the One Hyde Park project for 140 million pounds (220 billion won), which was the highest price in the UK at the time.
Premier League Chelsea was put up for sale after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Britain and the EU imposed sanctions such as asset freezes on Abramovich and hundreds of Russian individuals and entities, targeting people accused of propping up Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Korean carmaker Hyundai also announced to suspend their deal with Chelsea.
Reuters News reported that the former British Airways chairman Broughton who teamed up with the president of World Athletics Coe, the owners of U.S. baseball team the Chicago Cubs, the Ricketts family, who joined with Citadel founder Ken Griffin, and Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss, who linked up with LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly, have also submitted an offer.
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