Skip to main content

Final Textor bid for Palace, but Everton probably real target

John Textor’s Eagle Football Group has made a final bid to take over Crystal Palace.  The group fronted by the U.S. businessman, which owns an existing 45 per cent stake in Palace, launched an offer which they say placed a valuation on the club “that far exceeds levels of prior investment” and would see them take full control.

It remains to be seen whether Palace’s other three General Partners — chairman Steve Parish and fellow U.S. businessmen Josh Harris and David Blitzer — are prepared to sell their stakes, but Textor fears they will knock back his offer.

If he is indeed unsuccessful then he is expected to renew efforts to sell his own stake in Palace — he has engaged investment banking firm Raine Group to actively seek a buyer for Eagle Football’s stake — and concentrate on acquiring fellow Premier League side Everton, with whom he has entered a period of exclusivity after talks with their majority owner Farhad Moshiri.

If he is to successfully complete a takeover of Everton instead, he must first sell his Palace shares. 

Parish has been in charge of Palace since buying the club out of administration in 2010 alongside three others as part of the CPFC2010 consortium. Since then he has overseen promotion to the Premier League in 2013 and an unprecedented run of success in which the club has enjoyed an unbroken decade in the top flight.  He has also become an influential figure within the Premier League, often acting as an unofficial spokesperson for clubs outside the ‘big six’.

This offer is the result of increased tensions within Palace’s ownership group, which has become split over the club’s strategy. Parish has prioritised infrastructure spending with his focus on the redevelopment of Selhurst Park and the building of the club’s new academy, while Textor would prefer to pursue further investment in the playing squad.

With Parish effectively the sole decision maker at the club, Textor has grown frustrated over his lack of control, and he previously hinted at being forced into a decision either to launch an offer to take over the club or sell his stake.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more