"To date, substantial progress has been made on all the steps necessary to finalize the operation", initially announced for September 30 and then postponed to October 21, OL Groupe however underlined Monday in a press release.

Released before the opening of the markets, the text states that "Pathé (Jérôme Seydoux), IDG Capital, Holnest (Aulas), OL Groupe and Eagle Football have agreed on the setting of the new date for the completion of the operation on November 17, 2022 and the intermediate steps for the signature of the final debt and equity financing documentation".

"If one of these steps was not carried out", it would open "right to termination without prejudice to other rights for the benefit of Pathé IDG, Holnest and OL Groupe", the current shareholders of the French club, specifies the press release.

According to this text, "Eagle Football has informed OL Groupe that advanced discussions are underway with identified debt and equity investors ready to support the transaction".

But "this financing remains subject to the finalization by Eagle Football of the detailed documentation, to the usual authorizations (in particular from the football authorities) and to the internal verification procedures for the lenders of the OL group, who have "given their consent", which explains that "the operation could not be carried out on October 21".

Clearly, the ball is in Textor's court for carrying out the operation.

- Textor wants to reassure

Via Eagle Football Holdings LLC, John Textor is to acquire all of the shares and half of the Osranes (bonds convertible into shares to finance the construction of Groupama Stadium) held by Holnest - the holding company of the Aulas family (27.7% of the capital) -, plus all the shares and Osranes held by Pathé (19.3%) and the Chinese investment fund IDG Capitals (19.8%).

The latter two had announced on March 9 that they wanted to sell their shares.

To counter the skepticism that has appeared in recent weeks about his funding capabilities, John Textor tried on the night of October 19 to 20 to reassure Lyon supporters with a letter on his website.

"Be aware that transactions like this can be quite complicated for both buyers and sellers, and it's not uncommon to discover obstacles in the way of a 'closing' that create complexities and delays," a- he writes.

In this letter, the American businessman, in whom Jean-Michel Aulas has always maintained his confidence, said he was "completely ready to finalize the acquisition", affirming that his main financial partner "stands ready to finance Eagle Football" to purchase the controlling interest and provide additional capital to OLG."

Sports and entertainment

Moving from special effects in the cinema to digital creation by artificial intelligence and then to the streaming of live sporting events, John Textor launched himself in August 2021 on the football field.

He entered the capital of the London club Crystal Palace (Premier League) before becoming in early 2022 the majority shareholder of the Brazilian club Botafogo and Molenbeek (2nd Belgian div.).

On the other hand, his recent project of partial takeover of Sporting Lisbon failed.

This change would mark a historic turning point for OL, even if Jean-Michel Aulas, who took control of it in 1987, confirmed that he would "stay at least three years" in his post to ensure the operational management of the club. .

In 35 years, the Lyon businessman has taken OL from the status of an associative club vegetating in D2 to a listed holding company, winning seven consecutive titles of champion of France, from 2002 to 2008. As of June 30, OL Groupe posted a turnover increase of 42%, to 252.5 million euros, after a historic loss linked to the Covid-19 pandemic (-107 million) over the previous financial year, even if the holding still shows a net loss of 55 million euros.

OL are currently going through a difficult sporting period but have just regained victory at Montpellier (2-1) after six games without a win, remaining 8th in Ligue 1, ten points behind Lorient (3rd) and Lens (2nd) who occupy the qualifying places for the Champions League, its stated objective.

© 2022 AFP