Sidley Austin and Latham & Watkins have scored roles in the sale of US financiers Mark Walter and Todd Boehly's stakes in Chelsea Football Club, in a deal that will see Clearlake Capital take full control of the Premier League club.
Chelsea did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, though the Financial Times reported it valued the club at around £5bn including debt and would see Walter and Boehly receive £950m in cash for their combined 25% holding.
Sidley Austin is acting for Clearlake and Chelsea on the matter, with the team led by M&A and private equity partners Mehdi Khodadad and Mark Castiglia in Century City and Adam Runcorn in London.
Latham is acting as lead legal advisor to the sellers, with the team headed by London managing partner Ed Barnett and M&A partner Hector Sants.
The deal is the latest high-profile UK football investment on which Latham has advised in London, including acting for Manchester United on the sale of a minority stake to INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe in 2023 and a Jeff Bezos-backed consortium on its acquisition of a minority stake in Liverpool FC last month, in a deal that again saw Barnett and Sants take lead roles.
They also advised the consortium led by Boehly and Clearlake that bought Chelsea for £4.25bn in 2022 when Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club after sanctions were imposed on him following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The consortium included Swiss billionaire businessman Hansjörg Wyss, who will remain a stakeholder and partner in Chelsea's ownership group. Wyss was advised this time by a Macfarlanes team led by partner and head of corporate Howard Corney, while Winston Taylor provided additional advice to Walter.
The FT reported Clearlake will finance the deal using its own capital and direct investments from its billionaire co-founders Behdad Eghbali and José Feliciano. Expected to complete by the end of this year, it will see Boehly step down as chair.
In a joint statement, Eghbali and Feliciano said Clearlake had "served as Chelsea’s majority owner since 2022, and as we move to full control our focus is to continue investing in the Club’s infrastructure, sporting performance, player development and delivering long-term success for Chelsea and the Club’s supporters".
Chelsea, which appointed Xabi Alonso as manager in the summer and is sixth in the Premier League, said there would be no changes to day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy at the club.
Evercore is serving as lead financial advisor on the transaction. The Raine Group, BDT&MSD Partners and BofA Securities are serving as financial advisors to Clearlake. Goldman Sachs & Co is serving as financial advisor to the sellers.
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