Speculation has arisen that AC Milan’s owners Elliott Management are ready to support a Chelsea takeover bid from billionaire Nick Candy.
The London club have been put up for sale by Roman Abramovich following the conflict in Ukraine and Candy is one of the parties interested in acquiring them, and Sky News reported that he is set to be backed by an affiliate of Elliott Management, in the form of a multimillion pound cash injection.
As Calciomercato.com reports, it is necessary to remember that any participation in Chelsea’s shares would be severely limited by the UEFA timeshare rules, which in Article 5 of the ‘Regulations of the UEFA Champions League’ states:
“No club participating in a UEFA club competition may, directly or indirectly:
➤ Hold or trade in the securities or shares of any other club participating in a UEFA competition for clubs;
➤ Be a member of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition;
➤ Be involved in any capacity in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition; or
➤ Have power in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition.
“No one may be involved simultaneously, directly or indirectly, in any capacity, in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.
“No natural or legal person may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition, such control or influence is defined in this context as:
➤ Hold the majority of shareholders’ voting rights;
➤ Have the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the club;
➤ Be a shareholder and alone control the majority of shareholders’ voting rights by virtue of an agreement entered into with other shareholders of the club; or
➤ Be able to exert by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making process of the club.”
Therefore, it is clear that there is a risk of an ownership conflict with Milan who are now almost certain to seal a second consecutive Champions League qualification, and that makes this path extremely complicated.
Another path could be followed is one that would lead Elliott to finance – through the disbursement of a loan – an individual within a consortium in the running for the acquisition of Chelsea, which means that the fund would not be involved in governance within the club.
Or Elliott will make sure that Milan wins Scudetto and then cash in on their investment, and then get a stake at Chelsea?
All rumours, they can’t even spend 10 million euros to bring in a decent player.
Are you saying there is no decent player in this current squad?