Chelsea FC Owners Contemplate Increasing Debt by £250 Million

Hoy 04:05

The owners of Chelsea FC They evaluate increasing their debt by up to £250 million (US$305 million), sources with knowledge of the matter stated.

Bank of America Corp. is advising them on considerations of taking on more debt under existing loan agreements, said people who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. Chelsea’s owners already had £800m in loans, with the option to take the limit to £1.05m, one of the sources explained.

The lenders would have been invited to attend Chelsea’s recent match against Aston Villa FC. Deliberations are ongoing and no decisions have been made on the final amount of any additional loans, they said.

The new funds would give greater financial power to Chelsea’s majority owner, Clearlake Capital, and American investor Todd Boehlywho have already spent hundreds of millions of pounds on new players since taking control in May 2022. They are also looking to fund a redevelopment of Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium west London, as well as investing in more football clubs.

Just last week, Chelsea raised £500 million in subordinated debt from US direct lending giant Ares Management Corp. in a separate transaction. The club owners are not interested in attracting new equity investors at this timeaccording to a person familiar with the matter.

Representatives for Clearlake, Chelsea and Bank of America declined to comment.

Chelsea’s poor campaign last season

So far, the huge expenditures of Chelsea’s owners have had little sporting success. Chelsea finished in the 12th place in the Premier League last season, their worst performance in 29 years. The club has also had a difficult start to the current season and is 14th in the championship.

While loading clubs with debt is not unusual in the world of football, it is largely frowned upon by fans, who worry about the impact on football. financial sustainability. Manchester United Plc supporters. they quickly turned against the Glazer family following their leveraged buyout of the club in 2005. This year, the Premier League voted to ban leveraged buyouts of teams in the division.

Translated by Malu Poveda.

CA / ED