September 30 will not be that of the sale of Olympique Lyonnais to American billionaire John Textor.
For a few days, information on changes concerning the financing of the operation, with in particular the arrival of the giant Ares, circulated insistently.
They have been confirmed.
The first consequence came this Friday through a press release from OL Groupe, the holding company that oversees Olympique Lyonnais, which indicates that the formalization of the acquisition of almost all of the shares of OL Groupe by the billionaire American John Textor has been postponed for a few days.
The group of Jean-Michel Aulas wishes to reassure that the operation, the conclusion of which was initially expected on September 30, remains on the right track and “should be completed in the very next few days”.
"The company will inform the market as soon as these discussions have been completed and a new date has been set," adds the OLG about this takeover valued at nearly 800 million euros.
According to the group, it remains “for the parties to finalize in the coming weeks the legal documentation, in particular for the main financing of Eagle Football, and the mechanical steps necessary for the successful completion of the operation.
The time required for this finalization will not allow the completion of the operation on September 30, 2022, as initially planned”.
A deferral far from unusual in transactions of this volume
On Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told AFP that the closing operation was taking its course and warned that an announcement delayed for a few days could not be ruled out, as can sometimes happen in transactions for this volume, without however calling into question the disposal process.
Through Eagle Football Holdings LLC, John Textor is to acquire, as announced by OL Groupe, all of the shares and half of the Osranes (bonds convertible into shares to finance the construction of the Groupama stadium) held by Holnest - the holding company of the Aulas family, plus all the shares and Osranes held by Pathé (Jérôme Seydoux) and the Chinese investment fund IDG Capitals.
Holnest holds 27.72% of the capital.
Pathé (19.36%) and IDG (19.85%) announced on March 9 that they wanted to sell their shares.
In the end, John Textor and his group will hold almost 79% of the shares after reimbursement of the Osranes in shares and Holnest more than 8%.
The American billionaire is already present in the capital of the London club Crystal Palace and majority shareholder of Botafogo (1st Brazilian division) and RWD Molenbeek (2nd Belgian division).