Why is Hana Financial interested in buying Chelsea?
Premier League club Chelsea's emblem hangs at an entrance to the club's home stadium Stamford Bridge in London on the deadline of its takeover bid, Friday. AFP-Yonhap
Korean company says purpose of joining bid is simply to offer financial service platform
By Yi Whan-woo
The race to buy Premier League club Chelsea is attracting investors' interest toward Hana Financial Group's non-banking business vision, after its asset management unit was found to have joined the takeover bid by the deadline, Friday.
Hana Financial Investment joined the bid worth 2 billion pounds ($2.62 billion) in a three-party consortium including British property entrepreneur Nick Candy and sports management firm C&P Sports.
The news came as Korea's third-largest banking group, which saw its net profit surpass 3 trillion won ($2.47 billion) last year, is eyeing overseas markets to accelerate its new growth engines in non-banking sectors.
Ham Young-joo, then CEO of Hana Bank and current vice chairman of Hana Financial Group, poses with Korean football player Son Heung-min after Son was appointed as the bank's promotional ambassador following a friendly football match between Korea and Costa Rica in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in this photo taken on Sept. 10, 2018. Hana Bank has been the title sponsor of the Korean national football team since 1998. Korea Times file
This vision stoked rampant speculation on social media over the weekend.
Some speculated Hana Financial Group may be going into the sports business, noting its banking unit Hana Bank has been the title sponsor of the Korean national football team since 1998 as well as the owner of K League 2 club Daejeon Hana Citizen.
Others suggested the Korean banking company wants to leave an impression on larger global operators for possible business partnerships, by having its logo emblazoned on Chelsea uniforms if the bid turns out to be successful.
It is also speculated Hana Financial Group may be interested in the real estate business, considering Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea, is in a pricy neighborhood of western London.
The logo of Hana Bank is printed on the uniforms of Daejeon Hana Citizen players who celebrate a win over Gangwon FC during a K League 2 playoff match in Daejeon on Dec. 8, 2021. The bank owns Daejeon Hana Citizen. Korea Times file
“And the answer as to Hana's intentions is so simple ― we are there to provide a financial service platform as necessary, nothing more or less,” an executive at Hana Financial Investment told The Korea Times, Monday, on condition of anonymity. “Funding capital is our job as an asset management company and that's where we come in regarding the Chelsea bid.”
The executive reaffirmed media reports that the consortium is led by Candy, and that Hana Financial Investment took part in the bid after being contacted to offer its financial expertise.
It is not disclosed whether Candy contacted Hana Financial Investment directly or via C&P Sports, a London-based company led by Korean CEO Catalina Kim, according to the executive.
“You can see that it did not necessarily have be to Chelsea for us to join a takeover bid,” he said, pointing out the company is also a member of a Hanwha E&C-led consortium on redevelopment of a sports complex in southern Seoul. The area is where venues for the 1988 Summer Olympic are located, many of which are hardly being used while requiring massive financing.
Meanwhile, numerous high-profile investors were found to have formed consortiums in their bids. Among them are New York Jets co-owner Woody Johnson, LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and Saudi Media Group.
The Raine Group, a U.S. bank overseeing the sale of Chelsea, could whittle down the shortlist of potential owners to three, possibly within this week.
The club has been put up for sale urgently due to financial pressure in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and the U.K. government's sanctions on club owner Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch.