Todd Boehly\u2019s proposed takeover of Chelsea moved a step closer to completion on Tuesday when the Premier League board announced it had approved his purchase of the London club.<\/p>\n
A consortium led by Boehly, a co-owner of baseball\u2019s Los Angeles Dodgers, had already agreed a \u00a34.25 billion ($5.3 billion) deal to buy the Premier League club from owner Roman Abramovich on May 7.<\/p>\n
And a Premier League statement said Tuesday, \u201cThe Premier League Board has today approved the proposed takeover of Chelsea Football Club by the Todd Boehly\/Clearlake Consortium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purchase remains subject to the (British) Government issuing the required sale licence and the satisfactory completion of the final stages of the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russian billionaire Abramovich put Chelsea on the market in early March, just before he was sanctioned by the British government following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Completing the purchase has been a lengthy process due to government concerns over the potential for Abramovich to profit from the sale.<\/p>\n
There had been fears the takeover would collapse because of the \u00a31.5 billion debt owed by Chelsea\u2019s parent company, Fordstam Ltd, to Camberley International Investments, a Jersey-based company with suspected links to Abramovich.<\/p>\n
Abramovich, who has said he has not asked for his loan to be repaid, is understood to have provided confirmation to the government that his associate, Demetris Ioannides, has resigned from the trust owning Camberley International.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the government were working with \u201cinternational partners\u201d to get the deal done.<\/p>\n
The Premier League statement added: \u201cThe board has applied the Premier League\u2019s Owners\u2019 and Directors\u2019 Test (OADT) to all prospective directors, and undertaken the necessary due diligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of the Consortium purchasing the club are affiliates of the Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., Todd Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter.<\/p>\n
\u201cChelsea FC will now work with the relevant Governments to secure the necessary licences to complete the takeover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chelsea have been forced to operate under a special licence from the UK government since Abramovich, who bought the club in 2003, was sanctioned.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the licence, Chelsea were unable to offer new contracts to existing players or sign players from other clubs.<\/p>\n
The sale of the European champions brings the curtain down on 19 years of nearly unbroken success under the 55-year-old Abramovich, who has overseen five Premier League titles and two Champions League triumphs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Todd Boehly\u2019s proposed takeover of Chelsea moved a step closer to completion on Tuesday when the Premier League board announced it had approved his purchase of the London club. A consortium led by Boehly, a co-owner of baseball\u2019s Los Angeles Dodgers, had already agreed a \u00a34.25 billion ($5.3 billion) deal to buy the Premier League […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":143135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[121,2209,16498,37095],"class_list":["post-190465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-chelsea","tag-premier-league","tag-takeover","tag-todd-boehly"],"yoast_head":"\n