Yahoo Sports British government OKs Chelsea purchase by Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly from Russian oligarch
A day after the Premier League signed off on the deal, the British government approved the purchase of Chelsea by part-Los Angeles Dodgers owner Todd Boehly and his Clearlake Consortium.
British cabinet member Nadine Dorries announced the approval in a tweet early Wednesday.
1/2 Last night the Government issued a licence that permits the sale of @ChelseaFC. Given the sanctions we placed on those linked to Putin and the bloody invasion of Ukraine, the long-term future of the club can only be secured under a new owner.
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) May 25, 2022
The club agreed to terms earlier in May for Boehly's group to buy Chelsea for more than $5 billion. Chelsea is currently owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, whose assets are frozen under sanctions imposed by the British government amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“The Premier League board has today approved the proposed takeover of Chelsea Football Club by the Todd Boehly/Clearlake consortium," a Premier League statement from Wednesday reads. "The purchase remains subject to the government issuing the required sale license and the satisfactory completion of the final stages of the transaction.
The government green light was the final hurdle for the sale. UK officials sought guarantees that proceeds would not benefit Abromovich. Dorries wrote on Twitter Wednesday that terms of the sale met that requirement.
"We are satisfied the proceeds of the sale will not benefit Roman Abramovich or other sanctioned individuals," Dorries wrote. "I want to thank everyone, especially officials who’ve worked tirelessly to keep the club playing and enable this sale, protecting fans and the wider football community."
Per The Guardian, the sale proceeds will be placed in a frozen account controlled by the government with the intent that the funds will ultimately go to a charity to benefit victims of the war in Ukraine.
Boehly, a hedge-fund billionaire, is part of an ownership group alongside Magic Johnson and Mark Walter that purchased the Dodgers in 2012. That group has overseen the turnaround of a Dodgers franchise that declared bankruptcy under Frank and Jamie McCourt in 2011 to winning a World Series in 2020.
Boehly is joined by Dodgers partner Walter and Swiss businessman Hansjörg Wyss in his bid to purchase Chelsea.
