- Mail Sport revealed in October that Sportsbank was linked with Crystal Palace
- They plan to invest in co-owner John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings company
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Sportsbank has entered into an exclusivity agreement to invest £230million into the company that owns 45 percent of Crystal Palace – a deal first revealed by Mail Sport.
We exclusively revealed on October 31 that the south London based investment vehicle, who are being advised by football financier Keith Harris, had entered into talks over a transaction that would see them seize part control of the Selhurst Park club.
The structure of that deal will see Sportsbank invest into American businessman John Textor’s company Eagle Football Holdings – the firm that boasts Palace, Botafogo, Lyon and Molenbeek as clubs in their portfolio.
‘Sportsbank Limited, a sports investment company led by Crystal Palace supporter Zechariah Janjua, announces that it has entered into an agreement with Eagle Football Holdings Limited for an investment which will include a period of exclusivity while due diligence is conducted and relevant commercial and legal agreements are concluded,’ read a statement.
‘Sportsbank intends to make a significant financial and management investment in Eagles with the backing of major international financial and strategic management investors who strongly support Eagles’ multi-club model.
‘Further announcements will be made once the intended investment by Sportsbank in Eagles has been completed.’
A global sports firm has entered into an exclusivity agreement with John Textor (above)
Sportsbank plan to invest in the Crystal Palace co-owner’s Eagle Football Holdings company
Alongside Palace, the firm also counts Botafogo, Lyon and Molenbeek among its portfolio
Mail Sport had reported last month that the group – led by south London based businessmen Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer – had been selected as Textor’s preferred bidders in the race for the Selhurst Park boardroom.
Textor has been satisfied throughout that Sportsbank have the funding to complete a deal and pass the Premier League’s owners and directors test.
They are now expected to beat competition from two other parties who had an active interest in Palace.
Those groups were understood to be tech-entrepreneur Stanley Tang, who is worth an estimated £1.7billion, and Morgan Stanley sports executive Bejan Esmaili’s consortium that includes former Roc Nation attorney executive Wajid Mir and Saudi businessmen Haider and Manor Syed.
