May 27 – Crystal Palace co-owner and American businessman John Textor has said he wants to sell his stake in the English Premier League club as Palace is no longer “a perfect fit” for his portfolio of football interests.
Textor is still keen to have an English club in his multi-ownership group and said that he would be interested in acquiring Everton if it was still available once he has disposed of his stake in Crystal Palace.
Textor owns a 45% stake in Palace through Eagle Football Holdings but although instrumental in the hiring of new manager xxxx, he has been frustrated that despite being the club’s largest shareholder he is unable to control decision making.
Steve Parrish, who still owns 10% of the club, is chair of the club and holds the casting vote on the board,
“As proud as we are to have been part of the resurgence of Crystal Palace, it remains true that Crystal Palace is an independent club run by a man with a steady hand who has achieved a level of sustainability that is incredibly rare in today’s Premier League,” said Textor.
“An integrated sporting model like ours at Eagle is simply not a perfect fit for Crystal Palace,” he continued.
“Simply based on early reaction to the process we have begun with Raine Group, it’s obvious that the momentum at Crystal Palace has not gone unnoticed. I feel extremely confident that a good number of prospective partners will jump at the chance to be a part of this promising future. Of course, these processes do take time, however, we believe the summer of 2024 is the right time to run such a process, with a goal to identify a successful bidder and future Palace supporter before our focus returns to football games in the Fall.”
Everton, who reached a deal with Miami-based 777 Partners in September, have extended the deadline for the completion of that share purchase to May 31. The Premier League has yet to approve the agreement as scrutiny intensifies over whether 777 Partners have the assets to compete the deal following the failure of other investments and a court case in where they are accused of pledging $350 million as collateral for loans knowing that the assets either did not exist, or had already been pledged to another lender.
Textor cannot invest in another Premier League club before exiting Palace.
Brazilian club Botafogo, Belgian club RWD Molenbeek and French club Olympique Lyon are part of the portfolio of Eagle Football Holdings.
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