LONDON (Reuters) – Chelsea said on Saturday that a final deal had been reached to sell the Premier League club to a consortium led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and financed by Clearlake Capital.
The acquisition should be completed on Monday.
The consortium, which won the bid to acquire the London club earlier this month, received approval from the Premier League, the league responsible for the English top flight, and the British government this week.
“Chelsea Football Club confirms that a final and definitive agreement has been entered into last night to sell the club to the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital consortium,” the club said in a statement.
“The transaction is expected to be complete on Monday. The club will give updates at that time.”
Russian owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale in early March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
The sale also needed Portuguese government approval after Abramovich became a citizen of the country last year and because he is under European Union sanctions.
Chelsea have been operating under a special license issued by the British government since Abramovich’s assets were frozen in March and it is expected to expire on May 31.
The club had previously confirmed that Abramovich would donate the proceeds from the sale, which would be placed in a frozen bank account, to charitable causes.
“I am proud that through our joint success, millions of people will benefit from a new charitable foundation that is being organized,” Abramovich said in a statement posted on Chelsea’s website.
(Reporting by Kate Holton in London and Dhruv Munjal and Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Christian Radnedge)
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