Chelsea’s owners are in talks over selling their stakes four years after taking over the Premier League club from their ousted owner Roman Abramovich
Todd Boehly and Mark Walter are reportedly in talks to sell their Chelsea stakes to Clearlake Capital
Chelsea’s majority owners, Clearlake Capital, are in talks with Mark Walter and Todd Boehly to buy their minority stakes.
football.london understands that negotiations are now underway after years of on-and-off discussions between the two parties. However, it is not yet clear whether they will agree on a deal in this instance despite these developments.
Boehly and Walter have clashed with Clearlake for the last two years, half of their time together. The former is chairman and has equal governance and joint control despite not being the majority owner of the club, with Clearlake currently owning 61.5 per cent.
Chelsea have declined to publicly comment after being approached by football.london.
Walter’s investment empire is under investigation by federal prosecutors in the United States, as well as by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for potential financial improprieties, according to Bloomberg. Those probes are said to be into two of his insurance companies and the global investment and advisory financial services firm Guggenheim Partners.
The businessman has since sold the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team for over £9billion. That sale came barely 12 months after buying majority control last summer.
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The Telegraph quotes a source outside Walter’s office as saying: “Of course, there is speculation that Mark Walter would be open to selling his stake in Chelsea. Selling the Lakers would suggest that, for whatever reason, he is looking for liquidity, and Chelsea would be another way of doing that.”
Boehly and Walter value Chelsea at over £5billion, according to the publication. They own just over 25 per cent between them.
That amounts to 12.8 per cent each, with Hansjorg Wyss owning the other 12.8 per cent. Therefore, based on that overall valuation, they would be looking for over £1.25million.
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The consortium of Boehly, Clearlake, Walter and Wyss paid £2.5billion for Chelsea in 2022, alongside a commitment to invest another 1.75billion. They would thus be looking to double at least what they paid for their stakes, not including the additional committed investment.
Their initial deal is said to include clauses requiring Boehly and Walter to sell their stakes to Clearlake or Wyss for the first decade of their ownership, up until 2032. Boehly is also due to step down as Chelsea chairman at the end of this season, as May marks the end of his five-year term, with Clearlake taking over.
