Malaysian Consortium Wraps Up Battersea Purchase

The Guardian have confirmed that the sale of the Battersea Power Station site has been completed, with Chelsea, as expected, failing to win the bidding:

Following a global marketing process that started in February 2012 and covered all major world wealth centres, a consortium comprising SP Setia, Sime Darby and the Employees' Pension Fund of Malaysia have exchanged contracts on the (Battersea) site for £400m.

-Ernst and Young, site administrators.

There's been some hope that SP Setia will allow Chelsea to build what would be a frankly awesome stadium next to the power station anyway, selling the club a chunk of the land acquired later on, but this strikes me as unlikely. They've received planning permission to build housing and office space, not planning permission to build whatever they want, and the local council (not to mention London) seems very unfriendly to the idea of there being actual iconic modern architecture in the area. And Chelsea still don't really own the Stamford Bridge freehold either.

Unless something really neato happens (and don't bet on it) it's back to the drawing board on a new stadium.