Soccer: The UK government gives the go-ahead for the Boehly-led consortium to buy Chelsea.
London (Reuters) – The British government has given a license to a group led by Todd Boehly, a part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and backed by Clearlake Capital to buy Chelsea, the sports minister, Nadine Dorries, said on Wednesday.
The British government could put restrictions on Roman Abramovich, who owns Chelsea right now. He put the London club up for sale at the beginning of March, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation.”
“We are sure that Roman Abramovich and other people on the list will not benefit from the sale,” Dorries said on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR).
“Because of the sanctions we put on people with ties to Putin and the bloody invasion of Ukraine, the club’s long-term future can only be guaranteed by getting a new owner.“
The group that agreed earlier this month to buy Chelsea for 4.25 billion pounds ($5.33 billion) passed the Premier League Owners’ and Directors’ Test on Tuesday.
Since Abramovich’s assets were frozen in March, Chelsea had been running under a government license, which was set to run out on May 31.
The club had already confirmed that Abramovich would give all of the money from the sale to charity.
A government spokesperson said, “We are now sure that neither Roman Abramovich nor any other person on the list will get any of the money from the sale.”
“We will now start working to make sure that the money from the sale goes to help people in Ukraine who have been hurt by the war.”
As part of the sanctions, Chelsea was not allowed to make any more transfers or sign new contracts for players. Once the sale is done, they will be able to do both again.
Before, only people with season tickets could go to home games, and the government also said that people couldn’t sell merchandise.
Groups led by Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca and former British Airways chairman Martin Broughton were kicked out of the running, and a group led by the Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs, dropped out.
