Billionaire financiers Mark Walter and Todd Boehly are nearing a deal to sell their stakes in Chelsea FC to majority owner Clearlake Capital, according to people familiar with the matter.
Talks have advanced in recent weeks, with Walter and Boehly poised to turn a small profit, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Clearlake and Boehly led a consortium that bought Chelsea from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2022 for about £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion).
A federal probe of Walter’s businesses has prompted him to reshape his holdings, stirring up deal talks on multiple fronts, including some of his stakes in sports franchises. Clearlake, which owns roughly 61.5% of the Premier League club, has discussed acquiring more for years, but until now those on-and-off negotiations consistently broke down over price.
“This potential transaction values Mark Walter’s stake in Chelsea Football Club at a premium to his initial investment and is another successful sports investment for him,” a spokesperson for Walter said in a statement. “After this exit, Mr. Walter intends to make future sports-related investments.”
Representatives for Boehly and Clearlake declined to comment.
“Walter did not initiate the proposed transaction to sell his interest, which has been in the works for quite some time,” his spokesperson said.
In September 2024, Clearlake and Boehly began assessing whether they could potentially buy each other out, after disagreeing about the direction of the club. That followed a period of heavy spending led by Boehly. He and Walter together own about 25% of the club, according to Sportico.
The US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have been probing Walter’s sprawling business empire but haven’t accused him or his holding company, TWG Global, of wrongdoing.
This year, two insurers owned by TWG disclosed that more than $20 billion of loans on their balance sheets should have been labeled as affiliated but weren’t. TWG later said it’s working with officials to resolve their inquiries and that no investors have been harmed.
Meanwhile, it has been looking to pull off multiple deals in a bid to clean up loans on its insurers’ balance sheets that have drawn scrutiny.
Last month, Walter agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record $12.5 billion. Walter sold the Lakers for 25% more than what he paid for the NBA team in 2025. TWG said late last month that the company “is not looking to sell its sports assets at ‘fire sale’ prices.”
In a conference call with investors of his closely held insurer last month, Boehly hinted that he was working to offload some of his personal investments that would hand the financier billions of fresh liquidity. He took a minority stake in the Lakers in 2021.
“I will be coming into significant liquidity personally as a result of exiting certain investments,” Boehly said on the Aug. 28 call. “I’m not exiting all of them in full. But I am exiting, in part, one of them in particular. I’m still working through that. Those will generate billions of dollars of liquidity.”
Written by: Sridhar Natarajan, Katherine Burton, Giles Turner, and David Hellier — With assistance from Zachary R Mider @Bloomberg
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