Bruce Buck | |
|---|---|
| Buck in 2008 | |
| Chairman of Chelsea | |
| In office March 2004 –20 June 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Ken Bates |
| Succeeded by | Todd Boehly |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 12,1946 New York,United States |
| Education | Colgate University (BA) Columbia Law School (JD) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Bruce Michael Buck (born March 12,1946) is an American lawyer and founding managing partner of the London office of law firm Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher &Flom. He was also the Chairman of Premier League football club Chelsea from 2004 until 2022. [1] His practice areas are European mergers and acquisitions,project finance and capital markets.
Buck received a B.A. degree from Colgate University and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School. [2] [3]
Bruce Buck has been practising law in Europe since 1983. He left New York for England in 1983 for a “standard tour of duty”of two or three years with his previous law firm White &Case. Five years later he was headhunted by M&A specialists Skadden Arps to develop the firm's European practice from scratch and has stayed on ever since. [4]
As the partner in charge of Skadden's European offices,his work includes a broad range of transactions in the capital markets area. [5] Buck represents both European and non-European clients in a full range of crossborder financing transactions,generally in connection with equity offerings or high-yield and other debt financings.
Buck's involvement with Chelsea began through his position as European head of the American law firm Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher &Flom. [6] Skadden Arps specialises in mergers,acquisitions and capital market transactions,and Buck had personally done legal work on a number of acquisitions for the Russian company Siberian Oil (Sibneft),through which he came to advise Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich,formerly the majority shareholder in Sibneft. [5]
The £140 million acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of the London Stock Exchange-listed company Chelsea Village plc was his first experience of taking over a football club.
Buck remained in his role,despite the ownership change at Chelsea in May 2022. [7] This changed on 20 June 2022,when the club announced that he would be stepping down from his role effective 30 June,although he would continue to work for the club as a Senior Advisor. [8] He was succeeded by club co-owner Todd Boehly as chairman. [9]
Buck has a wife and three sons. He took an interest in football after moving to London in the 1980s,and became a season ticket holder to Chelsea in 1991. [10]