When the deadline for bidders to submit their bids for the sales of Chelsea expired on March 18, 2022, one of the biggest news was that Turkish billionaire Muhsin Bayrak failed to meet up with the deadline despite claiming that he had a 90 percent chance of buying the Premier League club.
Before the deadline elapsed, the Turkish billionaire who is reportedly worth £8 billion was very confident that he would win the bid to buy Chelsea through his company, AB Group Holding – a company that has investments in crypto money, construction, and energy sectors.
Immediately Chelsea’s outgoing owner, Roman Abramovich announced his willingness to sell the club on March 2 for £3 billion, reports went viral that Muhsin Bayrak was already negotiating a possibility of buying the Premier League side.
Earlier in March, reports claimed that the Turkish billionaire has joined the Hansjorg Wyss and Todd Boehly consortium, which is led by Boehly to bid on the club. The reports also claimed that the consortium had made contacts with Raine Group, the American merchant bank saddled with the responsibility of selling the club.
In the same vein, another report surfaced then that Muhsin Bayrak was planning to make a direct bid of £2.5 billion as the chairman of AB Group Holding. But he debunked the report claiming that his bid was not up to what was publicized. He however refused to disclose the details of his bids.
Before the deadline closed, most football authenticates, especially those from Turkey, claimed that the Turkish billionaire was trying to use his interest in Chelsea as a publicity stunt. But the billionaire debunked the insinuation.
A spokesman for Turkish Billionaire Muhsin Bayrak, who has publicly expressed interest in buying Chelsea FC, told us he met Roman Abramovich last week to discuss the deal.
— Jason Farrell (@JasonFarrellSky) March 15, 2022
In an interview with OdaTV before the deadline closed, Muhsin Bayrak said: “We need to manage this process very well or we will lose. Other countries want Turkey not to accept it. Let it be a bit of a secret, let’s get the consent of the other party until Thursday.
“Our offer is below that, at least I can tell you that…
“We have reached a certain stage. Our law and finance department will start talks with theirs in London on Thursday. That’s the way it is at this point. On Thursday, we will notify the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). People are talking about it, we made some progress in the talks, and the world believes we have a 90% chance of completing the deal. Abramovich thinks the same.”
The fall of the bid from Muhsin Bayrak:
Despite how confident Muhsin Bayrak was in his quest to buy Chelsea, he and his company, AB Group Holding ended up missing the deadline. He missed the deadline because of an error the company committed in the process of bidding for the club.
In an interview with Reuters, the Turkish billionaire said he was ” very upset” that he missed the deadline, blaming his company for it.
Muhsin Bayrak disclosed that his company’s lawyers “contacted the UK Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport using a generic email address to file an inquiry, rather than to file a bid to the U.S. investment bank.” Hence, his bid became invalid.
His loss is a big plus to other major bidders like Nick Candy, Sir Martin Broughton, Todd Boehly, and the Ricketts family who have successfully submitted their bids to buy Chelsea before the March 18 deadline.
