CHELSEA have met with one of China’s richest companies – as Roman Abramovich eyes outside support to compete financially with Premier League rivals.
According to the Daily Mail, Blues chairman Bruce Buck held talks with mega-rich conglomerate HNA Group last month.
The Fortune Global 500 company – which has an annual revenue of over £20BILLION – is understood to be desperate to invest in a Prem club.
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It is reported that Buck met the group on January 7, and they were then invited into the Stamford Bridge directors’ box for the 4-1 FA Cup win over Peterborough the next day.
That was the second meeting between the two parties – with Buck previously having flown to Asia for talks.
A source confirmed to the Mail that HNA are ‘serious about buying a club’ and it is thought they have made formal representations to at least one other English side in recent years.
HNA are understood to be keen to purchase a 20 per cent stake in Chelsea which – with the club valued at £1.2bn by Forbes last year – would be worth roughly £240m.
That figure is a staggering £100m MORE than Abramovich paid Ken Bates for the Blues in 2003.
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But the eventual investment could be even more valuable, with another Chinese consortium paying £265m for just a 13 per cent stake in Manchester City in 2015.
Chelsea are likely to use the funds to push ahead with their Stamford Bridge regeneration project, for which they were given the green light last month.
The £500m revamp will see stadium capacity increased to 60,000 and help keep the club on a level playing field with the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as Tottenham when they move to their new 61,000-seater ground next year.
Investment will also enable Chelsea to continue to compete with the likes of United – who splashed a world-record £89million on Paul Pogba last summer – in the transfer market.
It was reported this week that Prem rivals Southampton are also being targeted for a takeover from China’s largest investment bank, CITIC Securities.
While West Brom were also sold to Chinese billionaire Guochuan Lai last year, and Championship side Aston Villa and Wolves are both under Far Eastern ownership.
Italian giants AC Milan are also on the verge of Europe’s biggest-ever Chinese investment after a £622m deal was agreed this month.
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