The Premier League has announced that its board has approved the acquisition of Chelsea for £ 4.25bn by the Todd Boehly consortium after all potential board members have passed the test of their owners and directors.
The completion of the purchase of the club from Roman Abramovich has yet to be authorized by the United Kingdom government, which must issue a sales license. He is pleased that none of the proceeds will go to Abramovich, who received sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and guarantees for his £ 1.6 billion loan to the club.
There is growing confidence that Abramovich will accept legally binding guarantees that would allow the money to be placed in a frozen account under government control. Chelsea’s special operating license expires on May 31 and it seems increasingly likely that the sale will be formalized this week.
The league said in a statement: “The Premier League board has today approved the proposed acquisition of Chelsea Football Club by the Todd Boehly / Clearlake consortium.
“The purchase continues to be subject to the government issuing the required sales license and the successful completion of the final stages of the transaction.
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“The board has applied the Premier League owners and directors test to all future directors and has taken the necessary due diligence.
“The members of the consortium acquiring the club are affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group, LP, Todd Boehly, Hansjörg Wyss and Mark Walter. Chelsea FC will now work with the relevant governments to obtain the necessary licenses to complete the acquisition.”
Boehly and Walter co-own the LA Dodgers baseball and Wyss is a Swiss businessman. U.S. investment firm Clearlake Capital takes a majority stake in Chelsea, although Boehly will be the majority owner.
The government has proposed a two-stage process in which the money from the sale would go to a guarantee account, where it would be kept until it was satisfied that the funds would go to a charity for the victims of the war in Ukraine.
It is expected that the charity will be established after the sale and it has been guaranteed that the foundation will be independent of Abramovich. Mike Penrose, the former CEO of Unicef in the UK, has been asked to lead the charity.