Probe on Chelsea’s Russian takeover

The biggest takeover in British footballing history came out of the blue — and later in the day sources said the deal was being looked at after shares in Chelsea Village, a holding company for a range of leisure businesses centred around Chelsea football club, surged from 14 pence in April to 30 pence by the end of June.

The company announced on Wednesday it had agreed to a takeover offer of 35 pence per share from Abramovich.

The share price movement has raised eyebrows at the stock exchange, which may refer the case to Britain’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, sources close to the matter told AFP.

A spokesman for the LSE said: ‘‘We do not comment on specific cases but we look at the circumstances around any share price movement and if we saw cause for concern we would refer it to the relevant authority, which in the case of market abuse would be the FSA.’’

The takeover was finalised late Tuesday after talks with long-time club chairman Ken Bates who bought the club in 1982 for just one pound, while taking on debts of 1.5 million pounds.

Bates, 71, stands to walk away with 18 million pounds from the sale.

Chelsea’s stadium is in one of the most fashionable and lucrative parts of London near the King’s Road. Bates’ dream was to build a complex, the Chelsea Village, of hotels and restaurants that would generate enough income to support the club.

The club has attracted the rich and the famous since the swinging sixties when the club was associated with the pop-star lifestyle but it has won the english championship only once, in 1955.

The 36-year-old Abramovich has amassed a fortune of $5.7 billion from oil and aluminium and is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Abramovich also owns stakes in Russian airline Aeroflot and a Russian television company.

Bates, a millionaire who made his fortune from ready-mix concrete, has had a colourful 20 years at Chelsea which he transformed from a club on the brink of bankruptcy into a large public company at the centre of a major corporate venture.

‘‘I think this is a great move for the club and the right time for me to sell up,’’ he told the London Evening Standard newspaper.

‘‘I had to be convinced that we had a football person coming in. Otherwise I would not have been interested. In the long term this will be great for Chelsea.

‘‘What does this deal mean to Chelsea? Well, we are recognised as one of England’s elite clubs and this extra financial power will help to make us one of Europe’s elite clubs.

‘‘The immediate benefit is that we will have a fund to purchase players. This is a great day for the club and its fans.’’

Bates said the deal had to be executed quickly because the Chelsea Village company had to meet a strict repayments schedule on 23 million pounds this summer and because of the current state of the football economy.

Abramovich, who has a law degree from Moscow State Law Academy, is one of the major shareholders of Sibneft, the fifth largest Russian oil producer.

In may, Sibneft announced a merger with Yukos Oil, Russia’s second largest oil producer, to create Russia’s largest, and the world’s fourth largest, oil producer.

Abramovich will be one of the largest shareholders in the combined entity.

Chelsea fan and former British sportsminister Tony Banks called for an inquiry into the deal. ‘‘I want to know if this individual is a fit and proper person to be taking over a club like Chelsea and until that question is answered, I’m afraid the jury is out,’’ he said.