John Textor, the American billionaire currently engaged in talks with Farhad Moshiri over a potential takeover of Everton, is reportedly preparing the ground for an initial public offering for his Eagle Football Group.
Sky News report that Stifel and TD Cowen have been tasked with preparing an IPO to the US stock market for Textor’s company which holds a majority stake in Olympique Lyonnais, Botafogo and RWD Molenbeek and 45% of Crystal Palace.
Textor has been trying to gain full control of the South London club or, failing that, offload his shares so that he can proceed with purchasing Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in the Blues but, while an IPO could help him raise $500m in further capital for that acquisition, Sky’s sources suggest that the former Executive Chairman of streaming firm FuboTV is planning on initially investing in Everton personally rather than through Eagle.
He would still need to either dispose of his Palace holdings entirely or bring them under 10% in order to buy into Everton and it is Sky’s information that Raine Group are working on the sale, with two interested but unnamed parties “capable of executing a deal rapidly.”