A new international sports consortium named Sportsbank is among the frontrunners to buy out John Textor’s 46 per cent stake in Crystal Palace.
Textor, who came close this summer to buying Everton, is seeking to offload his stake in Palace as part of a plan to instead purchase a majority stake in a Premier League or Championship club. His Eagle Football Holdings group also own Lyon, Brazilian side Botafogo and RWD Molenbeek of Belgium.
Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer set up the consortium Sportsbank and are being advised in their efforts to buy Textor’s stake by the experienced football financier Keith Harris, who has previously overseen takeover deals at Manchester City and Aston Villa, as well as Palace's London rivals West Ham.
Janjua and Jaffer, who are believed to support Palace, are being backed in the deal that would be worth around £230million by investors from Europe, North America and the United Arab Emirates.
The 31-year-old entrepreneur Stanley Tang who in 2013 co-founded food delivery company DoorDash is also believed to be interested in buying the 46 per cent stake.
A statement from Eagle Football Holdings on October 29 stated the group “expect to identify a finalist and buyer in early November 2024.”
The merchant bank Raine Group have been hired to oversee the selling process from Textor’s side.
Two of Palace’s other co-owners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, each own 10 per cent stakes in the club. Chairman Steve Parish has a stake of the same size but retains the deciding vote among Palace’s board members.
Textor originally invested £86m in Palace in August 2021 for a 40 per cent stake. He said in an interview in August this year that he had tried “everything possible” to buy 100 per cent of the club, but his share remains 46 per cent.
