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A consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital has emerged as the preferred bidder for the Premier League's Chelsea Football Club. However, UK billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has made a last-ditch effort to land the team, potentially complicating the sale process.
Clearlake and Boehly, who is the co-founder of holding company Eldridge and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, have beat out rival bids from Bain Capital's Stephen Pagliuca and a consortium including Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris and Blackstone's David Blitzer, according to reports.
The price tag for Chelsea is expected to top $3 billion. The sale is the result of the imposition of UK government sanctions on current owner and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, UK chemical group INEOS executive Jim Ratcliffe entered the bidding circle April 29 with a £4.25 billion (about $5.3 billion) offer for Chelsea. It was unclear whether the late bid would affect the decision to move forward with Boehly-Clearlake.
The UK government's Department of Culture, Media and Sport said in April it wouldn't have a role in selecting a preferred bidder for the club. Instead, it said the government would only be responsible for amending the special license that Chelsea is currently operating under, according to reports. The UK government issued the license for restricted operation after it froze Abramovich's assets as part of sanctions it imposed due to accusations of his "close links" with Russian President Vladimir Putin and therefore the war in Ukraine. Abramovich has denied any financial connections to Putin.
In an April 29 statement, INEOS said the bid included £2.5 billion in charitable commitments to support victims of the war in Ukraine and £1.75 billion to be invested directly into the club over the next 10 years.
Boehly, Clearlake and Pagliuca did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Raine Group—the US bank overseeing the sale of Chelsea—received at least 30 bids in March before narrowing a shortlist down to five bidders.
It was originally expected that Raine would have a final decision made by the end of April. With Boehly's group entering exclusive talks, Chelsea could be days away from new ownership. If a US investor group wins the bidding for Chelsea, Americans would hold ownership stakes in 10 Premier League clubs, including outright control of four of the league's current top six teams.
The Chelsea sale comes at a time when private equity and other US investors are becoming more involved with foreign soccer clubs.
In March, Miami-based 777 Partners acquired Belgian soccer club Standard Liège after landing Genoa CFC, Italy's oldest soccer club, in September. In June, Ares Management agreed to acquire a 34% stake in Spanish soccer club Atletico Madrid for €181.8 million.
Silver Lake backed City Football Group, a network of linked clubs and other footballing operations under the aegis of Manchester City, in 2019 for $500 million.
Abramovich, who has owned Chelsea since 2003, has said he would donate the Chelsea net proceeds to charity.