LONDON – Chelsea are being sold to a consortium led by American sports investor Todd Bowley, ending 19 years of ownership and generous investment by Roman Abramovich, until the Russian oligarch was sanctioned and forced to unload the club from the Premier League.
The deal is worth a total of 4.25 billion pounds (5.24 billion dollars).
“Chelsea Football Club can confirm that conditions have been agreed to acquire the club for a new group of owners, led by Todd Boelli, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansorg Vis,” Chelsea said in a statement early Saturday.
“Of the total investment being made, £ 2.5 billion ($ 3.084 billion) will be used to buy shares in the club and this proceeds will be deposited in a frozen bank account in the UK with the intention of donating 100% to charity causes, as confirmed by Roman Abramovich, “said a statement from Chelsea.
“In addition, the proposed new owners will commit £ 1.75 billion ($ 2.159 billion) for additional investment in favor of the club. This includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the academy, the women’s team and Kingsmeadow and ongoing funding for the Chelsea Foundation.
The £ 2.5 billion ($ 3.1 billion) selling price for the current FIFA Club World Cup winners and European champions in 2021 is the most lucrative for a sports team worldwide, but Abramovich can’t make money. which he hopes to go to the War Victims Foundation. Another £ 1.75 billion ($ 2.2 billion) has been raised to invest in Chelsea’s teams and stadiums after two months of swift negotiations to sell the West London club after Russia invaded Ukraine.
After several competitive bids were rejected, Chelsea said on Saturday that the terms of the buyout had been agreed with a consortium that included Boehly with Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and private investment firm Clearlake Capital.
The Premier League must approve them as new property, and the government must sign the terms of a license that allows Chelsea to continue operating as a business until May 31, while one of Abramovich’s frozen assets.
Abramovich said he would write off more than 1.5 billion pounds ($ 1.9 billion) in loans to Chelsea, but this was complicated by sanctions imposed by the British government as part of the crackdown on wealthy Russians over President Vladimir Putin. Abramovich’s country has positioned him as a potential peacemaker, but this trail has been publicly silenced in recent weeks and the billionaire has not condemned the war.
Chelsea, whose ability to sell match tickets and commit costs to new players has been hampered by sanctions, expects the sale to be completed by the end of May.
“The proceeds will be deposited in a frozen bank account in the United Kingdom with the intention of donating 100% to charitable causes, as confirmed by Roman Abramovich,” a statement from Chelsea said.
Boelli is already in London and was expected to attend Chelsea’s Premier League match against Wolverhampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Thomas Tuchel’s team is third in the standings with four games left. The title is out of range, but qualification for the Champions League is almost guaranteed.
Chelsea have the smallest and oldest stadium of the most successful clubs in the Premier League, with plans to rebuild the 41,000-seat stadium postponed by Abramovich in 2018 as British-Russian diplomatic tensions escalate.
Chelsea have said £ 1.75 billion will be used to fund investments at Stamford Bridge, the academy and the women’s team, which could win its league title on Sunday.
Boelli is part of the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise MLB and also has minority stakes in the Los Angeles NBA Lakers and the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks.
The challenge will be to maintain the expectation of regular trophies produced in Chelsea’s costly transformation, with 21 collected in 19 years.
Chelsea won the league title only once – in 1955 – when Abramovich bought the club in 2003. Backed by expensive signatures, the club won the Premier League title two years later and added four more since then, most recently in 2017.
There is increased competition from wealthy owners to buy and retain players. In England alone, Manchester City has benefited from investments in Abu Dhabi since 2008, and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund bought Newcastle last year.
No details have been given about the future daily leadership of Chelsea, which was the first Premier League club to benefit from a mega-rich foreign investor in 2003.
Boelli, who studied at the London School of Economics, co-founded the investment firm Eldridge Industries in 2015 and served as its chairman and CEO. The private holding company has investments in more than 70 businesses, including sports, entertainment and the media.
In addition to the Los Angeles teams, Boehly has minority stakes in e-sports organization Cloud9 and DraftKings, an American fantasy sports betting company.
He is chairman of Security Benefit, a retirement solution provider based in Topeka, Kansas, and MRC, an entertainment company that finances and produces film and television programs, including major shows such as the Golden Globe, the American Music Awards and the Billboard Music Awards.
Other MRC holdings include Penske Media, which owns Billboard, Rolling Stone, Variety and Hollywood Reporter.
Prior to co-founding Eldridge, Boehly was president of Guggenheim Partners. Walter, who teamed up with Boehly to buy Chelsea, is the CEO of the financial services firm.
Their first chance to see Chelsea win the trophy is next Saturday. Liverpool are rivals in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
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