December 8 – The sale of Ligue1 side Olympique Lyonnais to US investor John Textor’s Eagle Football group looks to have taken a step closer to fruition.
OL Groupe shareholders had given Textor a final deadline of today “to permit Eagle Football to secure all consentsenabling the satisfaction of its commitments”.
The sellers, in response to a letter from Textor, have acknowledged “the strong assurances of Eagle Football and Mr.John Textor”, and that there “was sufficient likeliness that a closing of the transactions would take place shortly. TheCompany and its board of directors will monitor in real time the completion of the last remaining steps.”
The deal, that was first agreed in July has suffered a number of delays as Textor arranged both finance and sought approvals from parties in the United Kingdom, Brazil and Belgium where he has potentially other conflicting football club investments. Those approvals have now been given n principle.
In a letter to OL Groupe shareholders, Textor said: “Eagle Football, as of November 17, has secured all financingsnecessary for the completion of the Transaction and signed the corresponding binding agreements with debt and equityproviders. Such financings are still in place.
“Subsequent to the June 2022 announcement, we were asked by OLG’s banks to contribute additional monies to partiallyrepay debt, and we have also secured incremental funds to satisfy this request…
“The amounts secured under the financing arrangements between Eagle Football and its debt and equity financing sources willbe readily available to enable the closing of the Transaction in the coming days and the ensuing tender offer.”
Eagle is buying €39,201,514 shares issued by OLG at €3 per share. Eagle is also buying 789,824 shares of the OSRANE group of shareholders (film company Pathe, Chinese investment fund IDG Capital and Jean-Michel Aulas’ family holding company Holnest) at €265.57 per share.
In total the price Eagle is paying for shares is about €327 million which will give Eagle close to 88% of the OL Groupe.
Textor is also committed to a €86 million capital increase for the group’s investment needs, including building an arena for concerts and events.
“We are more than ever enthusiastic about, and fully committed to, the development of Olympique Lyonnais under thestewardship of Jean-Michel Aulas and his team,” said Textor in his statement.
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