Chelsea news as the owners at Stamford Bridge continued their money-spinning business despite the summer window closing.
Chelsea co-owners, Clearlake Capital, are exploring the sale of one of part-owned aerial imagery and property data analytics company EagleView, reports suggest.
Clearlake, who were founded by Behdad Eghbali and Jose E Feliciano, both of whom have key roles at the Blues since their takeover in May 2022, purchased a major stake in EagleView in 2018 with the ambition of accelerating the growth of the company. They were a key part of the new investment three years after Vista Equity Partners took an initial majority stake.
Now, with reported valuations of around £1.6billion ($2bn) including debt, Reuters say, Clearlake and Vista are looking towards a potential sale of the company.
EagleView generates around £240million ($300m) of revenue before tax, it is said. This deal follows another big piece of work by Clearlake after they announced that one of their other investments, Discovery Education, had agree to a deal to acquire DreamBox learning.
The American-based private equity firm continue to go from strength to strength when it comes to their business outside of Chelsea but have been on the receiving end of widespread criticism for their handling of overseeing the post-Roman Abramovich transition at Stamford Bridge.
Since taking over from the Russian oligarch they have spent over £1billion ($1.2bn) on new players as well as sacking two permanent managers but still recorded the worst pound-for-pound Premier League season in history least term. They are now coming off the back of spending more than £350million ($436m) in the summer window with the expectation that fortunes on the pitch change rapidly under head coach Mauricio Pochettino after deadline day last week.
Clearlake, who are working with Eldridge Industries chairman and fellow American, Boehly, are part of a large consortium that have attempted to get the Blues back to competing for major titles once more following six years of Premier League mediocrity.
Boehly, who has experience working in sport through stakes in LA Dodgers and LA Lakers in the MLB and NBA, is the public-facing part of the group but gets ample behind-the-scenes help from Eghbali.
It is his company that provides most of the finances for Chelsea’s spending through BlueCo. Eghbali, who founded Clearlake in 2006, has seen the company rise to hold over £56billion ($70bn) worth of assets from more than 400 investments.
Upon becoming the part-owners of EagleView, Eghbali said in 2018: “Clearlake is looking forward to partnering with EagleView’s world-class management team and Vista, and we see tremendous potential to build upon the Company’s leadership position. We have been impressed by the Company’s strong track record of rapid growth and we look forward to leveraging our O.P.S.® approach to further support EagleView’s exciting trajectory.
Now, with a potential sale on the cards, it is said that banks have been contacted to advise over the next steps and the job done by Clearlake may soon be done.
