Chelsea Football Club have issued a statement confirming the sale of the club by Roman Abramovich to a Todd Boehly led consortium.
The club stated that terms have been agreed for Boehly to complete a £4.25billion takeover of the club. The agreement is subject to approval from the UK government and the Premier League.
Boehly heads the consortium and his partners are fellow Dodgers owner Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and investment firm Clearlake Capital.
Following the sanction of billionaire owner Abramovich for his ties to Russia president Vladimir Putin who is spearheading the invasion of Ukraine, the businessman was forced to put up the club for sale.
However, the UK government did not want any of the proceeds of the sale to go to the Russian which put the club in a difficult position.
Fortunately, Abramovich who has invested billions in the club since his takeover in 2003, stated that all the money gotten from the sale of the club would be given to charity.
Chelsea since then have been operating under a UK special licence and were given a deadline of May 31 to finalise the sale of the club or risk being expelled from the Premier League.
After several weeks of uncertainty, the deal was finalised on Friday but was officially announced in the early hours of Saturday morning.
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“Chelsea Football Club can confirm that terms have been agreed for a new ownership group, led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss, to acquire the Club,” the club’s official statement read.
“Of the total investment being made, £2.5bn will be applied to purchase the shares in the Club and such proceeds will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate 100% to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich.
“UK Government approval will be required for the proceeds to be transferred from the frozen UK bank account.
“In addition, the proposed new owners will commit £1.75bn in further investment for the benefit of the Club. This includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the Academy, the Women’s Team and Kingsmeadow and continued funding for the Chelsea Foundation.
“The sale is expected to complete in late May subject to all necessary regulatory approvals. More details will be provided at that time.”
Boehly saw off competition from consortiums fronted by Stephen Pagliuca, Sir Martin Broughton and even a reported late £4.25bn bid from Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
If the deal is approved by the relevant authorities, it will be the biggest sum paid for a football club, surpassing the £790m paid by the Glazer family in a leveraged buyout to acquire Manchester United.
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