Boehly-Led Group Wins Bid to Buy Chelsea For Record £4.25 Billion
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Deal remains subject to Premier League and government approval
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Largest stake in club set to be held by US private equity firm
A consortium led by Todd Boehly has won the bid to buy Chelsea FC and has signed a contract to buy the Stamford Bridge-based football club to bring to an end the Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
The deal, however, remains subject to Premier League and UK government approval.
The largest stake in Chelsea is set to be held by the US private equity firm Clearlake Capital but Boehly, a part-owner of baseball’s LA Dodgers and founder of Eldridge Industries, is expected to be the most public face of the consortium.
For the bid, Boehly partnered with his fellow Dodgers owner Mark Walter, the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and the British property developer Jonathan Goldstein.
Under the arrangement the Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein and the publicist Barbara Charone would become non-executive directors of the club.
The group has been selected as the preferred bidder and has secured an agreement despite late interest from Sir Jim Ratcliffe. A deal had appeared in doubt amid fears of Abramovich reneging on a promise to write off Chelsea’s debt but the Russian oligarch denied he wanted his £1.6bn loan repaid and within hours, it emerged an agreement would be struck with Boehly’s consortium.
A change of ownership would be a huge relief for Chelsea football club, who have been unable to hand out new contracts and have faced an uncertain future.
