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The American private equity firm financing the preferred bid to buy Chelsea Football Club will take a reduced stake in the Blues under a restructured deal that it wants to finalise within days.
Sky News has learnt that Clearlake Capital is expected to own approximately 60% of Chelsea’s shares if the consortium spearheaded by Todd Boehly, the LA Dodgers part-owner, can strike a definitive agreement with Roman Abramovich and his advisers.
California-based Clearlake had been expected to own 66% of the Stamford Bridge club, with voting rights split equally between it and Mr Boehly’s group.
However, the demand for an extra £500m from Mr Abramovich – made just days before Mr Boehly was selected as the preferred bidder for Chelsea – will see the American and his individual co-investors injecting a majority of the additional money themselves, according to one insider.
Sources said that details were still being worked through, but that the restructured ownership agreement was likely to mean that Clearlake owned 60% of Chelsea, with Mr Boehly and others holding the remaining 40% of the equity.
News of the revised deal comes amid speculation that the club’s sale could be jeopardised by uncertainty over the fate of a £1.54bn loan owed by the club’s parent company, Fordstam, to Camberley International Investments – a vehicle also associated with the oligarch.
Sky News revealed last Thursday that Mr Abramovich’s advisers at Raine had informed bidders that the loan would no longer be written off by Mr Abramovich for legal reasons associated with the sanctions.
However, the government is seen as being unlikely to issue the licence required to implement the sale unless the loan is dissolved, causing renewed anxiety about Chelsea’s ability to operate beyond the expiry of its current licence at the end of May.
Clearlake is pressing ahead despite the confusion by aiming to secure rapid approval from the Premier League, having given assurances about the…
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Source : skynews
