Todd Boehly Pictured At Stamford Bridge After Agreeing £4.25 Billion Chelsea Takeover Deal

Todd Boehly is set to become Chelsea FC's new part-owner after his consortium won its bid to buy the club in a £4.25 billion deal.

Chelsea published a statement just after midnight (UK time) early on Saturday morning to confirm "that terms have been agreed for a new ownership group, led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss, to acquire the Club."

The statement added: "Of the total investment being made, £2.5bn will be applied to purchase the shares in the Club and such proceeds will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate 100% to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich. UK Government approval will be required for the proceeds to be transferred from the frozen UK bank account.

"In addition, the proposed new owners will commit £1.75bn in further investment for the benefit of the Club. This includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the Academy, the Women’s Team and Kingsmeadow and continued funding for the Chelsea Foundation.

"The sale is expected to complete in late May subject to all necessary regulatory approvals. More details will be provided at that time."

Shortly before Chelsea's announcement, Blues fan Darren Lavery tweeted a photo of himself and some other supporters stood with Boehly outside of Stamford Bridge.

Former UK chancellor George Osborne was also in the picture, having been brought in by the consortium to help clinch its takeover of Chelsea.

Although Boehly, who is also a co-owner of baseball's LA Dodgers, is the main face behind the consortium, it will be Californian private equity firm Clearlake Capital that owns a majority of shares.

Boehly was back at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon to watch Chelsea play Wolves in the Premier League.

He was seen clapping and whistling after Romelu Lukaku gave Chelsea the lead. But Wolves fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.

Chelsea had been officially for sale since March 2 when Abramovich issued a statement in which he insisted he would "not be asking for any loans to be repaid", despite the club owing him around £1.6bn.

Abramovich also vowed to pass on "all net proceeds" from the sale to a new charitable foundation to help "all victims of the war in Ukraine".

Eight days later, the sale was thrown into doubt as Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government for his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

As a consequence of those sanctions, Abramovich was not allowed to receive any money from the sale of any of his UK assets, including Chelsea FC.

Abramovich has denied having close links to Putin and has since attempted to assist in peace talks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.

New Chelsea owner Todd Boehly pictured at Stamford Bridge during a 2-2 draw with Wolves

IMAGO/PA Images/Adam Davy

Boehly pictured in April 2022 at baseball game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California

IMAGO/ZUMA Wire/Javier Rojas