Chelsea have confirmed that the consortium led by Todd Boehly bidding to take control of the club has signed an agreement to acquire it from Roman Abramovich.
The American billionaire, who is co-owner of baseball team LA Dodgers, has finalised terms to buy the club along with his partners Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss. The deal has been revealed to be worth £4.25billion — a record amount for a sports franchise — after the west London club issued a statement in the early hours of Saturday morning.
It read: “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.
“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.”
Boehly is set to be in attendance at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as the post-Abramovich era moves closer, with the takeover now expected to be ratified by the end of the month. But who is he Todd Boehly? Mirror Football has taken a look....
A former wrestler at school, Boehly has ascended quickly in the world of business and has ran several enterprises during his career.
He is currently the co-founder, chairman, CEO and controlling member of Eldridge Industries, while also being the current interim CEO of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as of October 2021. According to Forbes, the American has a reported net worth of around $4.5bn.
Boehly owns 20 per cent of the Los Angeles Dodgers but his dealings with the baseball team have been questioned.
Ahead of the 2021 season, the Dodgers had paid the highest luxury tax and also forked out the most in wages. Last year, they had a $285million (£212m) payroll, which is the second-highest in MLB history - behind their own $291m (£217m) salary in 2015.
Boehly also previously led one of the largest collateralised loan obligation transactions in history which amounted over $1billion.
That means he has taken out a loan to buy the franchise, using the franchise's money to pay for the loan. It is similar to what The Glazers did with Manchester United, which has seen them come under huge fire from their fans, though their loan obligation transactions was a fraction of what Boehly’s was.
However, reports have claimed that Stamford Bridge executives have moved to negotiate a clause into the sale which would negate such practices. According to Sky News, new measures being negotiated include barring them from paying dividends and prohibiting the sale of shares in the club for 10 years on top of agreeing to strict limits on the level of debt.”
This is not the businessman’s first venture into football and was very recently in the market to snap up an American team called Washington Spirit, who play in the the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
Boehly was heading an ownership group that held exclusive negotiations to purchase a controlling interest in the club in December 2021.
But it was reported that just a month later, the Eldridge Industries chief had withdrawn from negotiations after it was reported that he had underestimated the complexity of the sale of the Spirit.
Boehly has had previous in the Premier League trying to purchase a football club and came close in 2019 when he made a bid for Tottenham. According to The Athletic, he was in ‘advanced negotiations’ to buy the club for approximately £2.3bn.
However, no final agreement was reached and the deal fell through with Daniel Levy retaining ownership.
But Boehly did not just look at Spurs and had actually also made a move to buy Chelsea in the same year when there were murmurs that Abramovich wanted to sell up. His bid, just shy of $3bn (£2.24bn), was rejected by the Russian but his interest has remained with a deal in the pipeline ahead of the weekend.
Boehly's consortium will now be required to pass the Premier League's owners' and director's test before the sale can be ratified. However, there is not expected to be any hitches in that regard, which will come as a relief to Chelsea fans, with the club’s licence to operate by the government set to expire on May 31.
