The new owners of English football club, Chelsea FC have agreed to a staggering debt package worth £800million to help in reshaping the operations of the London club and to help fund the ambitious plans of the club.
The Todd Boehly-led consortium which also includes Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss took over the London club in May from Roman Abramovich in a deal worth £4.25billion, with £2.5billion satisfying the purchase price of the club while the remaining £1.75 billion allocated for further investment into the club.
US billionaire, Todd Boehly and investment firm, Clearlake Capital have inked a financing arrangement that will see the club taking a £500 million term loan including a revolving credit facility of £300 million, according to The SUN.
The £500 million term loan will form part of the £1.75 billion pledged by the Todd Borglum-led consortium for further investment for the benefit of the club which includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the Academy, the Women’s Team and Kingsmeadow and continued funding for the Chelsea Foundation, while the revolving credit faculty of £300million is for working capital purposes.
Bank of America and JP Morgan are among the financial institutions reported to be involved in the financial arrangement.
‘Under the terms of the sale of the club to the Todd Boehly-led consortium, which was led by US merchant bank Raine Group, restrictions were placed on future debt levels. Chelsea will not bear any of the interest expense associated with the debt and the owners are not pledging any of Chelsea’s assets or revenues in order to obtain the financing.’
What you should know
- The financial arrangement of £800million by the London club would exceed any previous institutional financial commitment taken on by an English Premier League club.
- In 2021, Manchester City’s parent company City Football Group (CFG), raised £470million to further its global ambitions.
- England international, Raheem Sterling was the first signing of the new era as he joined from defending champions, Manchester City in a deal worth £50million.
- Senegalese defender, Kalidou Koulibaly have also joined the Blues from Napoli in a deal worth £33million and they are still active in the transfer market for other players.
