American consortium closes deal with Chelsea on takeover

A consortium led by American businessman Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, has made the winning bid in the takeover battle for London football club Chelsea. That reports the British newspaper The Telegraph. The football club has confirmed the news and expects the deal to be completed by the end of May.

The consortium, which also includes investment company Clearlake Capital, Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and British real estate developer Jonathan Goldstein, has left £4.25 billion (almost 5 billion euros) for the football club. The British government and the Premier League have yet to approve the takeover. If the takeover is successful, Chelsea will become the tenth club in the Premier League to be wholly or partly American-owned.

Chelsea was put up for sale by owner Roman Abramovich in March after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russian is on a British government sanctions list because he is said to have close ties to President Vladimir Putin. Chelsea therefore has to deal with all kinds of restrictions.

Abramovich has pledged to donate 100 percent of the proceeds to charity. The sale price will initially be deposited into a UK bank account. The UK government must give permission to transfer money from that account to another account.