More than a hundred interested parties are said to have submitted bids for the London football club Chelsea FC of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
The deadline expired on Friday.
The field will soon be reduced to three bids for the shortlist, according to The Times newspaper, citing sources close to the New York bank Raine, which Abramovich had commissioned with the sale – shortly before the sanctions fell.
Philip Pickert
Business correspondent based in London.
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A consortium backed by Todd Boehly, co-owner of the LA Dodgers baseball team, London real estate tycoon Jonathan Goldstein, 86-year-old Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who lives in America, and others are said to be offering almost 2.5 billion pounds (almost 3 billion euros).
There is a rumored bid even approaching £3billion, but the Boehly group believe they still come out on top.
The real estate self-made billionaire and Chelsea fan Nick Candy should also consider a bid with others, it said.
Confirmed is a bid by Michael Klein, a prominent American investment banker, along with former track and field athlete and sports official Sebastian (Lord) Coe and Sir Martin Broughton, former British Airways Chairman.
Investment firm Aethel Partners has bid more than £2bn.
Also in the running is the Ricketts family, who already own the Chicago Cubs baseball team and who want to take over the Chelsea football club together with hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffith.
However, if the sale goes through, Abramovich will not see any of the money.
The proceeds should go to a special account and be frozen there.
The Russian-Israeli businessman and major shareholder in the Evraz steel group, who has been sanctioned by the British government as a “pro-Kremlin oligarch”, had previously announced that it would donate the “net proceeds” to victims of the war in Ukraine.
Russia's war has damaged Abramovich's wealth.
Before the attack, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at over $14 billion, now it's said to be $7 billion.