Chelsea owners, Clearlake Capital, have announced the sale of risk management software company Archer Technologies after two years under the their guidance.
As part of the private equity firm's business plan, Clearlake and Symphony Technology Group (STG) - who purchased Archer in 2020 - have now moved on from the intergrated risk management (IRM) cloud software, confirming their sale to Europe centred private equity firm, Cinven.
Clearlake, founded by Behdad Eghbali and Jose E Feliciano, purchased Chelsea in a massive takeover in May 2022 following sanctions placed upon previous owner Roman Abramovich. They have had a tough first year overseeing the footballing operations, spending over £600million ($770million) on transfers, sacking two permanent managers and seeing results lead to historically poor 12th place league finish.
They are set to watch on for their second full season in charge having appointed Mauricio Pochettino as boss. The club will tour America for pre-season in the coming weeks as part of their preparation for the 2023/24 campaign. In the mean time, Clearlake are continuing with their hugely success company activity.
Although the sale of Archer is for an undisclosed figure, reports from earlier this year suggest that a sale was being considered for more than £1.5billiion ($2billion) with the overall revenue of the company being in advance of £171million ($220million) in 2022
Clearlake write upon the announcement: "Under Clearlake’s and STG’s ownership, Archer changed its core platform and launched new product offerings that allowed the Company to broaden its addressable market."
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USA banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisors to Archer whilst Sidley Austin provided legal counsel to Archer, Clearlake and STG.
STG had purchased Archer through an acquisition of RSA Security from Dell Technologies and Clearlake then further partnered in the operations to make Archer an established business.
Clearlake's principle partner when buying Chelsea is American businessman Todd Boehly. He is chairman of Eldridge Industries and also has a stake in MLB franchise LA Dodgers.
Boehly has been widely criticised for taking such a public facing role at the club without prior experience in the European football market and now faces scrutiny ahead of a vital summer for the Blues in-which they are looking to oversee a mass change to the playing squad at Stamford Bridge.
Boehly-Clearlake have already sold 10 or released 10 first team members in the transfer window, confirming the addition of just one senior signing ready to feature for Pochettino on the tour of USA so far.
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