UK gov’t approves Todd Boehly’s £4.25bn Chelsea takeover bid as Abramovich era set to end

The government has approved the £4.25bn Todd Boehly-led consortium takeover of Chelsea.

After months of negotiations, the deal has finally been approved after the government received legal guarantees that Roman Abramovich – who has had his UK assets frozen – will not benefit from the sale.

On Tuesday night, the Premier League approved the takeover, with its board applying “the Premier League’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test (OADT) to all prospective Directors” and undertaking “the necessary due diligence”.

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Sky Sports News understands that the proceeds of the sale are going into a frozen bank account controlled by the government.

Abramovich has a Portuguese passport and the sale has now also been signed off by Portugal and the European Commission.

Russian-Israeli billionaire Abramovich put Chelsea, which he purchased in 2003, up for sale on March 2, a week after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

What is the Boehly bid and who is part of it? Mr Boehly’s bid would see voting rights shared equally between him and Clearlake Capital, a Californian private equity firm. Clearlake, which has no direct ownership pedigree in major sports assets, would own a majority of the shares in Chelsea. The group is being advised by Goldman Sachs and Robey Warshaw, where the former chancellor – and Chelsea fan – George Osborne, now works as a partner. Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government but Chelsea were given a special license to continue to operate – albeit with restrictions over signing and selling players and offering new contracts to stars.

Boehly, co-owner of the LA Dodgers baseball team, and fellow consortium member Hansjörg Wyss were at Stamford Bridge for Sunday’s final 2-1 win over Watford.

US magnate Boehly will become Chelsea’s controlling owner once the takeover is complete, though California investment firm Clearlake Capital will assume the majority shareholding.

Source: Sky Sports