Who is Lord Karan Bilimoria, the British Indian entrepreneur added to Ricketts family's Chelsea bid?

Handing the Ricketts family a major boost in their bid to buy Premier League club Chelsea, the consortium has added Cobra Beer founder and outgoing CBI President Lord Karan Bilimoria as they eye a takeover from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

The Chelsea fan and founding chairman of the UK India Business Council's inclusion in the Chicago Cubs-owning Ricketts family has added political clout to buy the Blues.

US multi-billionaires Ken Griffin and Dan Gilbert have teamed up with Tom and Laura Ricketts to put together a hefty offer for the west London club, with the sale expected to reach a sports-franchise record 3 billion pounds.

If the Ricketts family wins the bid, then Bilimoria plans to act as a club ambassador. "I founded Cobra Beer just down the road from Stamford Bridge and have been a season ticket holder for many years," said Bilimoria.

"So when Tom Ricketts approached me to discuss a leading role in his bid group, there was no way I could refuse. Tom and the wider group have a proven track record of running successful sports teams and a strong vision for both the club and the local community," said the Cobra Beer founder.

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Here's all you need to know about Lord Karan Bilimoria:

Hyderabad-born Bilimoria belongs to a Zoroastrian Parsi family. His father and both his grandfathers served in the Indian armed forces. 

His paternal grandfather, Nasservanji D. Bilimoria, was one of the first Indians to be commissioned as an officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into the British Indian Army, and he retired as a Brigadier.

Karan Bilimoria's father, Lt. Gen. Faridoon Noshir Bilimoria PVSM (1933–2005), popularly known as 'General Billy', had a long and distinguished career in the Indian Army. 

His mother, Yasmin Bilimoria (née Italia), was the daughter of Jamshed D. Italia, a Squadron Leader in the Royal Indian Air Force. Both his mother and maternal grandfather were educated in Britain at Birmingham University.

Karan did his early schooling at Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, where the family lived at his mother's ancestral home, Anand Bhavan. When he was still nineteen, Karan received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Osmania University in Hyderabad in 1981.

On receiving a scholarship, he then moved to London, where he qualified as a chartered accountant with what is today Ernst & Young and received a diploma in accounting from the London Metropolitan University. Thereafter he read law at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

While at Cambridge, Karan played on the university's polo team, organising their first-ever tour of India, receiving a Half-Blue in 1988, and led the debating team against Oxford for two years, also becoming the Vice-President of the Cambridge Union before graduating in 1988.

In 1989, along with his friend Arjun Reddy, Karan founded Cobra Beer in a flat in Fulham, which has become a global brand today.

In addition to his business activity, Bilimoria is a politically active crossbench member of the House of Lords, currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Birmingham and is President of the Confederation of British Industry.

There isn't a certain figure out there regarding Lord Bilimoria's net worth, but in 2021, it was estimated that the Cobra Beer Chairman was worth somewhere between 1 million dollars to 5 million dollars.

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Although his net worth is not as much as Griffin and Gilbert's, his contribution could potentially aid the Ricketts' eight-point plan for the SW6 based side, with the re-development of Stamford Bridge high on the priority of things Tom and Laura Ricketts want to do.

Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale on March 2, amid his country's continued invasion of Ukraine. The 55-year-old was then sanctioned by the UK Government on March 10, with Downing Street claiming to have proven his links to Vladimir Putin.

Chelsea has been granted a special Government licence to continue operating, though under strict terms. Abramovich cannot profit from Chelsea's sale but had already vowed to write off the club's 1.5 billion pounds debt.

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