Todd Boehly is confident that his consortium’s attempted takeover of Chelsea Football Club will be completed soon, according to reports. It comes after “highly productive” talks between parties on Wednesday.
Despite this, the clock is still ticking for the Blues, following Roman Abramovich ’s decision to sell the club back in March. The Russian owner was shortly sanctioned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the club was placed under a special sporting licence that expires at the end of this month.
It outlines how crucial it is for the deal to be completed soon, with culture secretary Nadine Dorries claiming Chelsea are working on “borrowed time”. US banking firm Raine have been overseeing the process, eventually sifting through bids to pick out Todd Boehly’s consortium as the preferred bidder.
READ MORE: What Todd Boehly has done amid huge £500m Roman Abramovich request
Boehly is backed by Clearlake Capital, a US Private Equity firm, in his bid to buy the club, though several obstacles have presented themselves since, At first, it was announced that Abramovich wanted an extra £500million for the takeover to be put towards victims of war in Ukraine, forcing a restructuring of the presented offer.
There are also further fears that the 55-year-old will renege his original stance on wiping clear his £1.6billion loan to the club through his business Camberley International Investments. However, Chelsea are hopeful that the government will be able to hold that particular scenario off, given Mr Abramovich’s links to the company as well as the sanctions placed upon him.
After all the difficulties, there could be some light at the end of the tunnel, as CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs reports that the Boehly-Clearlake bid remains calm and confident they will own the club. He adds that Raine held productive talks with the preferred bidder, during their period of exclusivity, with no alternative options currently being explored.
It’s a huge boost in troubling times for some, given their club could be at stake. However, there is further detail on the £1.6billion loan mentioned too.
Jacobs adds that if the government freezes the debt on the loan, then it will remain in limbo and could allow for a takeover to be completed by the May 31 sporting licence deadline. While this doesn’t necessarily resolve the debt itself, it would allow for the sale to go through and would then be addressed later down the line.
There’s still plenty left to do though, with both the short-term and long-term future on the line. With 26 days remaining, there will be hopes that this doesn’t go down to the wire.
