Kieran Maguire shares what he's hearing about John Textor's Crystal Palace takeover plot
Today at 01:37 PM
Following his failure to sell his Crystal Palace shares in order to take over Everton, multi-club billionaire John textor is in football purgatory.
He has been quite frank about the fact that he is looking to offload his shares in Palace, which are around 45 per cent of the club’s equity, because he has been unable to engineer a deal for majority control.
That is despite having presented an offer to Palace’s other main shareholders, David Blitzer, Josh Harris and Steve Parish. That bid, he says, yielded no response at all.
Meanwhile, Textor wants to take his Eagle Football group public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Eagle Football owns stakes in five clubs worldwide, with Olympique Lyon in France’s Ligue 1 the most notable example besides Palace.
The sense is that Textor needs a Premier League club to strengthen his IPO when – and if – Eagle Football is listed, but that club will not be Palace.
Palace are an attractive brand. Only this week, president of the mega sports agency Roc Nation Michael Yormark named them as one the most attractive investment prospects in the Premier League.
So why has Textor not found a buyer? TBR Football spoke exclusively to Liverpool University football finance lecturer and industry insider Kieran Maguire to find out.
Palace, the next big brand?
Responding to Michael Yormark’s remarks about Crystal Palace potentially being the next big commercial brand, Maguire said: “It’s very innovative to see Croydon as a lifestyle destination.
“However, as far as Textor is concerned, there are pre-emption rights. That means he has formally got to offer the shares to Blitzer, Harris and Parish first.
“But I’m not hearing that his efforts have picked up any traction so far.
“London is a huge magnate as far as investors are concerned. That is what Textor will leverage on.
“Being south of the river, with relatively other clubs in that space, I think they can apply that in their search for a new owner.”
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Crystal Palace’s takeover price
Previously, Maguire has told TBR that Palace are likely worth in the region of £500m.
However, justifying 45 per cent of that figure – i.e. the stake Textor is looking to sell – when a buyer would not have a controlling stake in the club could be difficult.
In any case, it is a saturated market in the Premier League at present, with the likes of Tottenham and Bournemouth also seeking minority investment.
And there are signals that not everything is going swimmingly at Eagle Football at present, with the company now well over the deadline for filing its confirmation statement with Companies House.
What’s more, Textor has today postponed filing the company’s accounts too.
