The Chelsea football club takeover saga seems to have finally come to an end as there are reports that the consortium led by American tycoon, Todd Boehly, has been selected as the preferred bidder for the West London football club.
This is despite an eleventh-hour extravagant £4.75billion bid made by Britain’s richest billionaire, Sir Jim Ratcliffe which is understood to be the highest bid.
The consortium led by Boehly made a bid of £3.5billion for the club. Boehly has a background in sports ownership where he holds minority stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Boehly-led consortium also includes Switzerland’s richest man, Hansjorg Wyss, who has a net worth of $5.1billion. The consortium also enlisted several experienced advisory figures, including Daniel Finkelstein and former chancellor, George Osborne.
What you should know
- Prior to Ratcliffe’s bid yesterday, the active bidders were three.
- Asides from Todd Boehly consortium which has been reportedly selected as the preferred bidder, the other two consortiums are – one led by former Liverpool chairman, Sir Martin Broughton and backed by Lewis Hamilton and Lord Seb Coe.
- The other is led by Boston Celtics and Atalanta part-owner, Stephen Pagliuca.
- The consortiums led by Stephen Pagliuca and Sir Martin Broughton were told that they would not advance in the process.
- However, there has been no official confirmation from the West London football club or the American merchant bank, Raine Group handling the sale or from the Boehly’s consortium.
- Boehly’s team, though, were told they had been granted a “period of exclusivity” to discuss the final terms and conditions of a takeover package.
- If a deal with Boehly’s consortium is agreed, it will still need to be accepted by the Premier League, with all parties subject to the owners and directors test, likely to take a minimum of 10 further days to be completed. The government would then be required to grant a new licence to allow the sale to go through.
