Todd Boehly has joined the consortium to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich.

In a statement, the club announced the proposed deal in the early hours Saturday morning. However, it must be approved by both the UK Government (and the Premier League) before the agreement can be finalized. According to Chelsea, the deal will be completed in May.

The group headed by the LA Dodgers part-owner – which includes backing from Clearlake Capital, a US investment firm – beat off late competition from £4.25billion bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and other consortiums led by Stephen Pagliuca and Sir Martin Broughton to win the battle to become the Premier League club’s new owners.

Chelsea only had till May 31 to locate a buyer because the UK Government was unable to renew the license for the club’s operation. The Raine Group, which was hired by Abramovich as a buyer for the club’s sale, has been selected and the government is able to issue an additional licence that will allow it to sell the Premier League club.

On June 8, the Premier League will meet to form the next season. By that time, Chelsea would have to obtain a license to participate in the following campaign.

Chelsea said in a statement: “Of the total investment being made, £2.5bn will be applied to purchase the shares in the Club and such proceeds will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate 100 per cent to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich.

“In addition, the proposed new owners will commit £1.75bn in further investment for the benefit of the Club. The new owners will invest in Stamford Bridge, Kingsmeadow, Kingsmeadow, the Academy and the Women’s Team, as well as continuing funding for Chelsea Foundation.

Sky Sports News reported in April Boehly’s consortium was chosen as the preferred group to buy Chelsea, despite a late £4.25bn bid from Britain’s richest man Ratcliffe for the west London club – though that offer was rejected out of hand.

Last month, Pagliuca was informed that they were out of contention to be chosen as the Raine Group preferred bidder. The Broughton consortium, which includes the billionaire Crystal Palace shareholders Dave Blitzer, Josh Harris, was not out of the running.

Lewis Hamilton was one of the investors backing Broughton’s attempt to acquire Chelsea and is understood to have committed £10m to the bid. Broughton’s consortium was also supported by Serena Williams, the tennis star.

An organization led by the Ricketts Family, the owner of the Chicago Cubs and Citadel hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin were in the last four, but Lazard, a US investment bank, pulled its offer in March. Due to disagreements among members of the consortium over the final structure of the deal, the plans collapsed.

The new owner of Chelsea is likely to be found by the end this month. This comes nearly three months since Russian owner Abramovich put Chelsea up for auction on March 2.

On March 10, the UK Government sanctioned the 55-year old, with Downing Street asserting that there were links between the Russian-Israeli billionaire Vladimir Putin and the Russian-Israeli billionaire.