John Textor Agrees to Become Major Shareholder in Lyon

Lyon announced this Monday (20) a beginning of an agreement with Eagle Footbal Holdings, a company owned by John Textor, 56. The American, who recently acquired 90% of Botafogo’s football and also invests in other clubs, is giving following an aggressive foray into the sport and expects to complete the deal by next month.

The French club released a statement saying it was “in exclusive negotiations” with Textor. This means that the other interested parties – one of them was also the American Foster Gillett, 45 – were defeated in the dispute, and now the issue turns to contract formalities.

In the deal, Lyon was valued at 798 million euros (R$ 4.34 billion). At the end of the transaction, in which Eagle will increase the club’s capital by 86 million euros (R$ 467.9 million), the total amount will be 884 million (R$ 4.81 billion).

​Textor will initially hold 66.6% of the shares, which presupposes an investment of around 588 million euros (R$ 3.2 billion). A mechanism obliges the North American to also acquire the shares of minority shareholders interested in selling them. In this case, its share could reach 88.5%.

For the next three years, the executive direction will remain in the hands of Jean-Michel Aulas, 73, whose family has owned the majority of the team since 1987. Aulas will also have a role at Eagle. He will give a press conference alongside Textor this Tuesday (21) to talk about the agreement.

“The project I discovered in Lyon with Jean-Michel Aulas and all his teams will be at the epicenter of our new organization and our investments in the service of world football. Lyon will be the cornerstone of our project,” said Textor.

The American also has a stake in England’s Crystal Palace. He is a majority in Botafogo and RWD Molenbeek, from Belgium.