Premier League club Chelsea’s owners can “pass the chairmanship of the club between them every five years as part of an extraordinary written agreement,” according to Matt Law of the London TELEGRAPH. Chelsea’s Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership included the option for the club’s chairmanship to be shared between them. Boehly has been Chair since the current owners bought the club in 2022, which means Clearlake Capital, who are owned by Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, will have the opportunity to nominate their own representative in 2027. The “agreement is an option, rather than an obligation,” and Boehly “could remain as chairman for another five years in 2027 should Clearlake decline the opportunity to take over.” Those close to him insist that Boehly “has no plans to pass up the chairmanship early as a result of the criticism he has faced." Eghbali and Feliciano have “so far preferred to work in the background, out of the public spotlight,” but “whether or not either man could continue to do that as chairman is debatable.” Chelsea has “never officially confirmed the breakdown of shares in the club since the takeover,” but Clearlake Capital owns 61.5% of the shares and voting rights in the UK-based company behind Chelsea, 22 Holdco. The remaining 38.5% is split equally between Boehly, Hansjorg Wyss and Mark Walter, meaning each man “owns a stake of just under” 13%. Boehly, along with Eghbali and Feliciano, is “listed as a person of significant control.” While Boehly’s stake is entirely privately funded with his own money, Eghbali and Feliciano have “smaller personal stakes” within Clearlake’s 61.5% fund that they manage (London TELEGRAPH, 3/7).
