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Chelsea Football Club has declared that Todd Boehly and the Clearlake group have completed the purchase of the Stamford Bridge club.
On Monday, a statement said, “Roman Abramovich has finalised the sale of Chelsea Football Club and affiliated entities to an investor consortium managed by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.”
“It is an honour for us to be the new custodians of Chelsea Football Club,” Boehly stated. “Every minute of every match, we’re all in.” Our goal as owners is to make the fans proud.”
“I personally want to thank ministers and officials in the British government, as well as the Premier League, for all their work in making this possible,” said Boehly, who is also the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Chelsea’s takeover was hailed as “unprecedented,” with the club receiving more than 250 inquiries from potential buyers and holding lengthy negotiations with more than 100 individuals and organisations since the club was put up for sale.
On Saturday, the Premier League club announced that “a final and definitive deal” had been achieved on Friday night. Chelsea’s takeover comes only one day before their government operating license expires on May 31.
Chelsea’s immediate future had been cast into doubt, and it now confronts an entirely new one, following a frantic two-month process that began with former owner Abramovich placing the club for sale amid government sanctions for ties to Vladimir Putin.
A group led by Sir Martin Broughton and the Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, were among the early buyers of Chelsea, before Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe made a late play. However, Boehly’s bid remained the favorite and was eventually successful, completing a £4.25 billion takeover, making it the most expensive athletic franchise sale ever.
“The process was highly comprehensive and finished on an accelerated timetable,” Chelsea stated after announcing the takeover was now complete. The proposed transaction was described as “unprecedented” by many, and it was. Normally, a deal like this would take nine to a year to complete; we finished it in less than three months.
The sale was approved by the UK government on Wednesday and Portuguese officials on Thursday morning, despite the fact that Abramovich holds a passport from that country and thus required authorization.
