Ice man heads Wembley bids

The main front runner in the race to buy the Wembley Arena and

Conference Centre is believed to be Philip Anschultz, owner of the

ice-hockey team the London Knights.



Anschultz is expected to team up with US entertainment group Sfx and

press reports state he has lodged his interest with Deutsche Bank, which

is handling the auction for Wembley.



Any bids for the complex will include the surrounding 50 acres. Deutsche

Bank told the Sunday Times it had received eight preliminary offers for

the site, which is worth up to £70m.



However, Wembley could not confirm the identity of any of the

bidders.



"The process is subject to strict confidentiality clauses," said a

Wembley spokesman. "There have been about 50 different companies

expressing an interest from property developers to leisure

companies."



Deadlines for the bidding process have not been confirmed. The spokesman

added that the timing for the process is "uncertain".



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