Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca joins market to buy Chelsea

Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca has made the four-strong shortlist to buy Chelsea, the PA news agency understands.

The 67-year-old billionaire co-chairman of Bain Capital is the final bidder to make the shortlist compiled by New York merchant bank the Raine Group.

Chicago Cubs owners the Ricketts family, former Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton and LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly are the other bidders still in the race to by the Stamford Bridge club.

Celtics supremo Pagliuca and Cubs owners the Ricketts were understood to have been informed by merchant bank the Raine Group early on Friday afternoon in New York time.

Raine spent Thursday informing a host of unsuccessful bidders they were out of the auction before starting the process of confirming the shortlist in the race to buy the Blues.

The New York bank will dig into further details of remaining submissions once the shortlist is rubber-stamped.

US magnate Boehly and his Eldridge Industries firm has backing from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and respected British business leader Jonathan Goldstein.

Former British Airways chairman Broughton has drafted in sports business and politics heavyweight Lord Sebastian Coe, adding genuine clout to his consortium.

Wall Street investment banker Michael Klein has added a major financial edge, with a number of other backers also involved.

Pagliuca also has a 55 per cent shareholding in Italian club Atalanta, which he could have to divest should his bid for Chelsea prove successful.

Chelsea are seeking a quick sale and the process should be complete by the end of April however, so Raine would not have taken forward any bidders with particular complications in their submissions.

The Cubs-owning Ricketts family