Maples and Calder, the Maples Group's law firm, is pleased
to have recently provided Cayman Islands counsel to Clearlake
Capital Group, L.P. ("Clearlake") and its related
entities, on its acquisition of Chelsea Football Club (the
"Club") and related affiliates in a consortium co-led by
Todd Boehly, chairman and CEO of Eldridge. The ownership consortium
included Hansjörg Wyss, founder of the Wyss Foundation and
Mark Walter, co-founder and CEO of Guggenheim Capital. The
transaction completed on 30 May 2022.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mr Boehly and Clearlake will
share joint control and equal governance of the Club. Mr Boehly
will serve as Chairman of the holding company.
The firm also advised Clearlake on its completion of fundraising
for its seventh flagship private equity fund, Clearlake Capital
Partners VII ("Fund VII"), with more than US$14.1 billion
in commitments. With an initial target of US$10 billion, Fund VII
reached its hard cap and was significantly oversubscribed including
commitments from the general partner and affiliates.
A multi-disciplinary team of lawyers based in the firm's Cayman
Islands office acting as legal advisers to Clearlake was led by
Patrick Rosenfeld (Funds & Investment Management Partner) and
included Tina Meigh (Partner and head of the Cayman Islands Finance
practice), Christina Gordon (Funds & Investment Management
Partner), Adam Huckle (Regulatory & Financial Advisory Partner)
and Robin Gibb (Finance Associate).
Commenting on the transactions, Patrick Rosenfeld said, "We
were delighted to advise Clearlake on these significant
transactions. Our specialist skills and knowledge across our broad
range of practice groups enables us to provide comprehensive legal
advice within the investment funds and sports, media and
entertainment sectors."