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Investor who wants to take over Everton gets ‘exceptional’ £136m boost from France
One of the investors in the running to take over Everton has landed a £160m windfall thanks to developments in his business empire.
The Everton takeover saga has now been running for well over a year, with supporters now left in limbo as to who will run their club in 2024-25.
Farhad Moshiri is now exploring alternative options after a period of exclusivity with Miami-based 777 Partners expired at the end of May.
Several candidates have emerged from the world of finance, both in terms of groups and high-wealth individuals looking to secure a takeover.
One of those options is Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor, who is currently trying to sell his 40 per cent stake in the club.
And the billionaire, who holds stakes in a number of clubs throughout the world, has received some good news from one of those outposts in France.
John Textor secured £136m deal in Lyon
One of the clubs Textor is involved with is Olympique Lyon.
The 58-year-old launched a campaign to reorganise the club’s finances last year, with the aim to sell off the club’s non-core football assets.
One of those assets was the LDLC Arena, the 16,000-capacity sports and music venue owned by the seven-time French champions.
As relayed by , the sale of the arena has now been confirmed.
The deal, which was struck with Lyon’s former owners Holnest, who described the deal as “exceptional” in an official statement, is worth £136m in total.
Textor has promised to reinvest the funds in the football side of the business, giving them a platform to build on their 6th place finish in 2023-24.
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Everton takeover: How will this affect Textor’s campaign
It appears as though the two frontrunners for Everton are a group led by local financiers Andy Bell and George Downing as well as MSP Sports Capital.
The Premier League’s rules on dual ownership dictate that Textor would need to sell his stake in Palace before going any further with an Everton deal.
He is believed to have suggested workarounds to the Premier League, such as establishing an independent body to oversee his Palace stake while he works on a deal for the Toffees.
However, the noise is that he has had no luck in this area, which might mean he is forced to stall and re-evaluate his long-terms strategy.
One realistic alternative would be to hope MSP can get a deal over the line and that they can effectively act as custodians of the club while he sells his Palace stake.
While MSP do own stakes in a number of clubs, their strategy is typically to be a silent partner, so it would be unusual if they were choosing to go all in on Everton for the long term.
That bodes well for Textor’s chances.