John Textor could launch new takeover after Friedkin Group beat him to Everton deal

John Textor could launch new takeover after Friedkin Group beat him to Everton deal

American billionaire John Textor, who wanted to buy Everton, has been linked with adding a controlling interest in another English club to his growing portfolio

Dan Friedkin (left) looks to have beat John Textor (right) to the takeover of Everton

John Textor remains keen to add a controlling interest in an English club to his portfolio. The American billionaire failed in his attempt to acquire Everton earlier this month.

Textor, 59, had been vocal about his desire to acquire Farhad Moshiri’s majority shareholding in the Blues, even likening the opportunity to own the club as being that of being US President.

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But with Textor holding a 45% shareholding in Everton’s Premier League rivals Crystal Palace, his ability to complete a deal lay in how quickly he could divest. His 45% shareholding came with around 25% of the voting rights at Palace.

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Another American billionaire, Dan Friedkin, re-emerged to agree a deal with Moshiri last week having stepped away from talks in the summer owing to concerns around the £200m-plus debt that lay on the club’s balance sheet from 777 Partners.

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777 failed in a long-doomed bid to purchase the Blues over the last 12 months and who are currently in the throes of a civil court case in New York over allegations of ‘fraudulent’ behaviour to obtain $350m in funding from London-based Leadenhall Capital Partners.

With Friedkin expected to gain regulatory approval from the Premier League, Football Association, and the Financial Conduct Authority, the hope and expectation is that a deal will be concluded before the end of 2024.

But Textor is understood to remain on the lookout for another English team to acquire, with French media outlet Le Progres claiming that he is eyeing a deal for a club in the Championship, with two reportedly on his radar.

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Textor’s desire to add a controlling stake in an English team is understood to be linked to plans he has to float his Eagle Football Holdings company on the New York Stock Exchange before the end of the year. The initial public offering could happen in a matter of weeks, with a valuation having previously reported at around $2.3bn.

Through Eagle Football Holdings, which has sports and technology interests, Textor has controlling stakes in French side Olympique Lyonnais, Brazilian club Botafogo, Belgian side RWD Molenbeek, and American soccer academy FC Florida. His Palace stake also forms part of the Eagle Football Holdings portfolio.

But with an IPO on the horizon to float Eagle on the NYSE, Textor is understood to be keen to have a majority position with an English team to increase the attraction for investors.

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English football club valuations remain strong, although outside of the so-called ‘big six’ they can fall off considerably when it comes to outfits such as Bournemouth and Brentford. The reason for the strength of valuations against some other major European leagues is that the broadcast deal, for the Premier League at least, is far stronger than some, almost three times as much when compared to the likes of France, where Textor’s Lyon play in Ligue 1.

Promotion to the Premier League is the most lucrative one-off game in domestic club football anywhere in the world, and to be part of the elite club of 20 members is worth hundreds of millions. For investors, that is an attractive proposition and the reason why English football has seen a flurry of investment from across the Atlantic at both Premier League and EFL level, with the likes of Birmingham City and Wrexham both targeting a continued rise up the pyramid to try and reach the promised land of the Premier League.

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For Textor, unless the Friedkin Group pulls another U-turn, which isn’t anticipated having been able to do another two months of due diligence and getting comfortable with the risks involved, his run at trying to acquire Everton looks to be over.

But he may be arriving on the horizon at another English club in the not-too-distant future.

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