Todd Boehly the preferred candidate to buy Chelsea

Todd Boehly is set to become the new owner of Chelsea, pending final conversations to complete the deal. According to sources consulted by this newspaper, the American businessman’s offer for the Premier League club has been accepted by the Raine Group - the New York bank in charge of the sale of the outfit - working alongside Chelsea executives and the British government.

Boehly to take over from sanctioned Abramovich

Boehly is acquiring the club from Roman Abramovich, who was sanctioned by the British government on 10 March in the wake of the Russia invasion of Ukraine. The oligarch will not profit from the sale of the club, with the benefits going to the victims of the war. Despite having his assets frozen, Abramovich did participate in the bid selection process.

Today, Friday, the Raine Group rejected the proposals from the other candidates. These were from Sir Jim Ratcliffe (owner of Ineos), Sir Martin Broughton (former president of Liverpool) and Stephen Pagliuca (owner of Atalanta and the Boston Celtics). The three rival bidders had all made significant offers fro Chelsea, but in the end Boehly convinced the decision-makers. He will invest some $4.2 billion in total for the acquisition of the club and for future investment.

Boehly’s previous bid

The American billionaire is already known to the Chelsea fans. The LA Dodgers owner, whose fortune is estimated at some six billion euros, attempted to buy the club from Abramovich in 2018 for $2.7 billion, but his offer was rejected by the oligarch.

Now, four years later, he’s once again gone after one of the crown jewels of English football, with his bid being backed by Swiss Hanjborg Wyss (worth over four billion), British entrepreneur Jonathan Goldstein and Clearlake Capital, a Californian investment fund, which has over 70 billion under management.

Among the four final bids, Boehly’s was considered to be the strongest economically, with the backers having been working on the project for some time. In fact, Boehly met some time ago with senior Chelsea executives to discuss possibilities at the club, including a major renovation of the stadium, Stamford Bridge.