The sale of Chelsea Women to the football club’s parent company will be reviewed by the Premier League to ensure that it complies with rules and regulations around fair market value for deals and associated party transactions (APT).
Last week it was confirmed by Companies House that a change of ownership had occurred, with the club’s owners having carried out a planned move to separate the women’s side from the men’s so that they may operate independently, with the plan to potentially sell a stake in the women’s team at a reported valuation of £150m.
A filing on Companies House confirmed the cessation of Chelsea FC Holdings Limited as owners, with Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s BlueCo22 Midco Limited vehicle taking over. The change was registered on June 28, two days before the end of the Chelsea men’s team’s financial year, and with the men’s team having faced potential profit and sustainability rule (PSR) problems without raising some capital through either player trading or the sale of physical assets, as happened with the sale of a hotel in the 2022/23 financial year, the move could have potential benefits in terms of easing the club’s PSR position.
Acquiring the club from Chelsea FC Holdings, on the face of it, will have aided Chelsea’s bid to be PSR compliant, with the Chelsea FC Holdings company able to book profit from the sale of the women’s team to the Midco.
A similar related-party transaction was done in the 2022/23 financial year with the sale of The Hotel at Chelsea Limited to BlueCo22 Properties Limited, something that is still to be assessed as to whether it was within the regulation when it comes to APT.
According to a report in The Times, the Premier League will also scrutinise the deal to sell the women’s team to BlueCo22 Midco Limited, one that was said to be worth ‘tens of millions’ in paper profit for Chelsea FC Holdings, a move that could aid the PSR issue that the club were facing due to the heavy expenditure on player acquisition under the ownership of Boehly and Clearlake since their arrival in May of 2022.
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The Times report that club sources have claimed that the move is not to do with attempting to be PSR compliant, with its sole motivation to position it as a separate entity to the men’s team to better realise the value potential moving forward at a time when valuations of women’s sports teams are booming, led by the North American market.
Any associated party deal valued at more than £1m has to be approved by the Premier League before being independently assessed as to its fair market value.
In the NWSL, the highest level of professional women’s football in America, valuations of teams have been on a sharp incline, with team sales having risen from the $35m paid for the Washington Spirit by Michele Kang in 2022, to the $113m paid for the San Diego Wave earlier this year. Angel City FC, the NWSL’s most globally recognised team, is currently up for sale and the price talk is around the $200m mark for a team that was founded just three years ago. In France, OL Feminin, the women’s team of Olympique Lyonnais, was valued at around £42m.
While a practice that has for some time been barred in the EFL, selling tangible club assets such as stadia and property to parent or sister companies for paper profit has been permissible in the Premier League.
Speaking at Qatar’s Economic Forum earlier this year, Boehly said: “One of the things we believe very much is that the Chelsea women’s team is a top, top women’s team in the world, and it’s going to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We’re starting to see sponsors recognise that fact and they have got to get on board right now because it’s good for their brand.”
Chelsea’s owners are considering selling a portion of the equity in the women’s team to raise funds for infrastructure investment around the women’s team, including a move away from its current home at Kingsmeadow.
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