Chelsea Football Club has again denied reports it is considering a £400m deal to buy the Earls Court & Olympia (EC&O) Group.

There has been continued speculation that Chelsea plans to buy the EC&O Group and build a 65,000-seat stadium on the company’s Earls Court site.

E&CO is owned by leisure property specialists St James Capital – controlled by Anthony Lyons, Simon Conway and David Coffer – which acquired it in May 2004 from Candover Investments for £245m.

Chelsea has instead announced that it will increase the capacity at its current London home, Stamford Bridge, from 42,500 to more than 50,000.

A club spokesperson said: “We would like to increase the capacity at Stamford Bridge but there are constraints on our current site, which are well documented.

"There has been speculation linking us with a whole variety of sites in London including Wembley, the Olympic Stadium at Stratford, White City, Battersea Power Station, Earls' Court, Chelsea barracks and the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Whether these sites are available is irrelevant.

“Only after all possible scenarios for the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge are exhausted can a debate start about other options."

In December 2005, investment bank UBS and corporate financers Long Acre were appointed to advise St James Capital on its options, including a possible sale.

An EC&O spokesperson added that, since St James Capital acquired Earls Court & Olympia, various approaches regarding the business and its property assets had been received but no decision would be made on any approach until the UBS and Long Acre strategic review of the business was complete.

The spokesperson added that EC&O was also in the early stages of discussion about adding Alexandra Palace to its venue portfolio, which also includes London’s the Brewery at Chiswell Street. Details: www.eco.co.uk or www.chelseafc.com