LAST UPDATE | 7 May 2022
CHELSEA FC SAID a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly would acquire the London club after agreeing terms in a deal worth £4.25 billion (€5 billion).
“The sale is expected to complete in late May subject to all necessary regulatory approvals,” the football club said in a statement late Friday.
“More details will be provided at that time,” it added.
Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich put the Premier League club on the market in March, just days before he was sanctioned by the British government following the invasion of Ukraine.
After a lengthy bidding process involving several groups, Boehly and his fellow investors were picked by Raine Group, the New York bank overseeing the Blues’ sale.
Boehly’s group of investors includes fellow Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss and US investment firm Clearlake Capital.
“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 Chelsea statement said.
“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 percent to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich,” it said.
“UK government approval will be required for the proceeds to be transferred from the frozen UK bank account.”
In addition, the new owners would commit £1.75 billion in further investment for the benefit of the club, Chelsea said.
Chelsea were forced to operate under a special licence from the government after Abramovich was sanctioned by Britain and the European Union for his links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Abramovich cannot profit from Chelsea’s sale, but had already vowed to write off the club’s £1.5 billion debt and that all proceeds from the sale would go to victims of the war in Ukraine.
There had been fears over the future of the club if a sale was not finalised before the licence runs out on May 31.
Under the terms of the licence, Chelsea were unable to offer new contracts to existing players or sign players from other clubs.
The sale of the European champions brings the curtain down on 19 years of nearly unbroken success under the 55-year-old Abramovich, who has overseen five Premier League titles and two Champions League triumphs.
After initially embarking on a long winning run following Abramovich’s decision to sell the club, Chelsea have struggled to find their best form recently.
They suffered a painful Champions League quarter-final defeat at Real Madrid after nearly pulling off an epic comeback from a 3-1 first leg deficit.
Chelsea’s place in the Premier League’s top four is also far from guaranteed.
I’m suprised that anyone is putting this much money in to buy a football club now. Aside from the state owner sports washing clubs. Where is the value in it for the owners? Are they taking dividends? Surely they wouldn’t be expecting to make more than 5 billion on it when they eventually sell. Obviously they are not daft and know what they are doing but it’s hard to see where the profit is for legitimate business people at that level of investment.
@Gareth Keenan: If someone could afford to spend €5B on a Premier League club why not buy Spurs or Arsenal with their larger stadiums?
@Sustainable Hedgehog: the 5 billion I think involves building a new stadium
@Gareth Keenan: it’s an asset and will be worth that amount and more in future. None of that money comes out of their pocket. Its no risk.. He owns the la dodgers, the most consistent team in baseball the last 10 yrs. He knows what he’s doing
@Brianto: top4 team in the biggest grossing league in the world, if say he thinks he’s got it on the cheap, sure their squad, ground in Chelsea , facilities worth that easy
@Gareth Keenan: and Stanford bridge isn’t owned by the club so they only get to lease that
@Sustainable Hedgehog: they are buying the World and European Champions.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: because they aren’t up for sale
@Gareth Keenan: just take a look at the glazer deal for Man United – they bought the club for a billion – pit the debt in the company and have taken hundreds of millions of dollars off the table since – for the glazers – they could comfortably get a multi billion dollar deal to sell Manchester United in a heartbeat – revenues from sponsorships alone are lucrative – addidas spend 750 million with United to be shirt sponsor – there’s plenty of money being made in the football business
@Brianto: The club don’t own the stadium. It’s owned by a non profit organisation who also own the naming rights for the stadium.
@Colly08: They won’t hold either of those titles for long
1.75 billion pound commitment to spend over the next 10 years, “Anti Glazer” clauses as well as a no sale clause for 10 years. Pretty successful deal with all things considered.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: 1billion gone on work to the stadium set aside already
Let’s all hope America starts some sort of war that the Glazers get sucked into so Man Utd can be bought by someone else.
Assuming I had between 2 and 80 euro for the rest of my week at the time of the purchase.
I had about 900,000,000 plus 2 or 80 euro more than they had at the time.
Can anyone comment on here whether this is a good thing for Chelsea Football club and the premiership in general
@James Fox: Yes, as it starts to weed out the state money washing machine it had become.
These guys know the sport and media model backwards. They know the Premiership is undervalued as a media entity and they know how to address the player wage issue.
@Baron Adams TD: thanks for your reply. Hopefully they have football’s interest at heart
@James Fox: of course they have! It’s all about the football!!.. ptttfffftttt!
@James Fox: they could be in favour of the super league to make more money though.
1.5 billion debt .
@Peter Murphy: I don’t understand how Roman could lend them 1.5 billion and then wipe it. Is it whitin FFP rules .
@Gabriel Holmes: it can’t possibly be. If this debt is successfully written off, the legal teams of city, newcastle, PSG, and any other other state/oil owned clubs will take the absolute piss!
Because Chelsea Village is property located in one of the most valuable areas of London.