Roman Abramovich era officially over as Chelsea confirm sale to Todd Boehly consortium

Roman Abramovich’s time as owner of Chelsea football club is officially over after a £4.25 billion takeover led by Todd Boehly was finally completed on Monday.

The west London club was put up for sale in March after Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government over his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

Since then, Chelsea have been operating under a special license which was due to expire on 31 May – with Monday’s deal rubberstamped just in time to beat the deadline.

A statement from the club on Monday read: ‘Roman Abramovich has completed the sale of Chelsea Football Club and related companies to an investment group led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

‘This sale process commenced on 2 March, when Mr. Abramovich announced his intention to sell the club after 19 successful years of ownership. In selling the club, Mr. Abramovich stipulated that the new owner must be a good steward of the club, the net proceeds of the sale must be donated to charity, and that he would not seek the repayment of loans made to affiliates of the club.

‘Following this announcement, the board of directors and senior staff at the club immediately commenced work on the sale transaction. Raine, a global merchant bank chosen by the owner to run the sale process, has significant expertise and experience advising premium sports clubs on mergers and acquisitions and advised the owner and the club in the process.’

After a prolonged bidding process overseen by US merchant bank Raine Group, a consortium headed by American businessman Boehly – and majority-funded by Californian investment firm Clearlake Capital – was selected as the preferred buyer.

Other investors include US billionaire Mark