Cobra Beer founder added to Chelsea FC bid

Karan Bilimoria, a peer in the House of Lords since 2006 and current chairman of Cobra Beer, has been added to a bid by the American Ricketts family to buy Chelsea FC.

Bilimoria founded Cobra in 1989, eight years after moving to London from India. Running the business from his flat and working with one of India’s largest breweries to develop the recipe, the first shipment of beer from Bangalore arrived in 1990. Since 1997 Cobra has largely been brewed in the UK to satisfy demand.

The beer has become a fixture of curry houses across the UK, which Bilimoria partly attributed to the eye-catchingly large bottles. Molson Coors became the majority shareholder in 2009 after Cobra went into administration. Bilimoria retains a 49.9% share of the company’s British business.

“I founded Cobra Beer just down the road from Stamford Bridge and have been a season ticket holder for many years”, Bilimoria explained. “So, when Tom Ricketts approached me to discuss a leading role in his bid group, there was no way I could refuse.”

If the Ricketts bid is successful, Bilimoria would join the Chelsea board as a director and serve the club as an ambassador. The group stated that “the move will further boost the bid team’s credentials and its connection with UK business, sport and politics”.

Tom Ricketts is the owner of the Chicago Cubs MLB team. Alongside his siblings he serves on the Cubs’ board of directors. The family made their fortune when their father Joe Ricketts founded TD Ameritrade, a brokerage platform, in 1971.

Bilimoria’s is not the first name in the drinks industry to become involved in the jostle for ownership of Chelsea after Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale. Swiss billionaire and winery owner Hansjorg Wyss was rumoured to be interested.