Olympique Lyonnais
Eagle Football Holdings LLC (John Textor) acquisition · 20 Jun 2022
- Seller
- Holnest, Pathé, IDG European Sports Investment Limited
- Stake acquired
- 66.6%
- Control
- Yes
- Reported consideration
- ~€199m
- Implied equity value
- €530m
- League
- Ligue 1
- Country
- France
- Confidence
- HIGH
Eagle Football Holdings LLC (John Textor) acquired a 66.6% majority stake in Olympique Lyonnais from Holnest, Pathé, IDG European Sports Investment Limited, announced 20 Jun 2022, closing 19 Dec 2022.
Reported consideration was ~€199m. The stated 100% equity value was €530m. Announced enterprise value was €798m. €86m of new capital went into the club.
Nearest pre-acquisition revenue was €253m (FY 2021/22), an equity value / revenue multiple of 2.10x.
- Announced
- 20 Jun 2022
- Closed
- 19 Dec 2022
- Stake after transaction
- 80.1%
- Status
- completed
Reported consideration
What the buyer reportedly paid for the stake
Implied 100% equity value
Calculated: consideration ÷ stake acquired
Reported club valuation
Enterprise value
Only shown when debt/cash near the transaction date is established
Debt assumed / restructured
Primary capital injection
Total announced investment commitment
Commitments are not purchase price and not valuation
Nearest pre-acquisition financial year: 2021/22
Revenue
Wages
EBITDA
Net debt
Net income
(Olympique Lyonnais (OL Groupe).) This is the best-documented deal in the batch because OL Groupe is Euronext Paris-listed, generating an AMF-filed joint press release with precise, distinct valuation metrics: (1) enterprise value €798m as of July 1 2022 (€884m post-capital-increase), (2) fully-diluted 100% equity value €529.5m at the €3.00/share offer price, and (3) an €86m primary capital increase subscribed by Eagle Football.
- Holnest, Pathé and IDG Capital / OL Groupe / Eagle Football joint press release (filed with AMF via DILA open-data portal) ↗Tier 1 · regulatory filing
2022-06-20 — “'THE LAUNCH OF A FRIENDLY TENDER OFFER AT A PRICE OF 3 EUROS PER SHARE...CORRESPONDING TO AN ESTIMATED ENTERPRISE VALUE OF OL GROUPE OF 798 MILLION EUROS AS OF JULY 1, 2022 AND 884 MILLION EUROS FOLLOWING THE CAPITAL INCREASE'; 'The price of €3.00 per share values 100% of the share capital of OL Groupe (i.e. equity value) at approximately €529.5 million on a fully diluted basis'; capital increase of ~€86m; Blocks Acquisition of 66.56% (Pathé 19.26%, IDG 19.74%, Holnest 27.56%); Eagle Football to hold ~80.13% individually / ~88.55% in concert with Holnest post-transaction.”
- Lyonmag — 'Chiffre d'affaires en hausse de 29% pour OL Groupe pour les neuf premiers mois de la saison 2021/2022' (cross-checked against olympique-et-lyonnais.com reporting of full-year figures) ↗Tier 4 · specialist media
2022-05-13 · fr — “9-month 2021/22 total revenue reached €193.5m (+29% YoY); combined with prior media reporting of full-season 2021/22 figures (total activity revenue €252.6m incl. transfers, up 42%; €160.5m excl. transfers, up 36%), used here as the closest pre-acquisition full financial year. As a listed company OL Groupe's audited Document d'Enregistrement Universel would be the stronger FILED-tier source but was not directly fetched in this pass.”
- OL.fr — 'Closing of the transactions with Eagle Football' ↗Tier 1 · primary company
2022-12-20 — “Club's own news page confirming closing of the Eagle Football transactions; URL resolved with HTTP 200 but page content could not be extracted via the fetch tool in this pass (returned empty), so closing-date evidence status is REPORTED rather than CONFIRMED and is corroborated by ESPN/Inside World Football reporting.”
- ESPN — 'US-led Eagle Football investment fund completes Lyon purchase' ↗Tier 3 · major media
2022-12-20 — “Reported completion of Eagle Football Holdings' purchase of Olympique Lyonnais on December 19-20, 2022. (Sourced via search snippet; not independently re-fetched in this pass.)”
- OL Groupe / Eagle Football Group — Résultats annuels de l'exercice 2021/22 (regulated press release, Actusnews) ↗Tier 1 · primary company regulated
2022-10-14 · fr — “'Le Conseil d'administration d'OL Groupe, réuni le 14 octobre 2022, a arrêté les comptes de l'exercice clos le 30 juin 2022 ... au 30 juin 2022, le total des produits des activités s'établit à 252,6 M€ (177,4 M€ au 30 juin 2021) en hausse de +42% ... PRODUITS DES ACTIVITÉS (HORS TRADING JOUEURS) 160,5 ... EXCÉDENT BRUT D'EXPLOITATION 15,9 ... Charges de personnel -99,4 ... RÉSULTAT NET -55,0'”
- Eagle Football Group — Communiqué du 10 mars 2026 (clarification of the 7 July 2025 letter agreement) ↗Tier 1 · primary company regulated
2026-03-10 · fr — “'Le 24 juin 2025, la DNCG a décidé de reléguer ... l'OL en Ligue 2 pour des raisons financières ... EFG a pu obtenir un financement supplémentaire (fourni principalement par les porteurs d'obligations existants et Michele Kang par l'intermédiaire d'Eagle Bidco) d'un montant de 87 M€, ainsi qu'une garantie bancaire de 30 M€ contre-garantie par Mme Michele Kang ... ont permis de convaincre la DNCG de revenir sur sa décision ... Ares et Bidco s'engageraient (i) à ne pas entreprendre de processus de vente concernant EFG ou ses filiales avant le 30 juin 2026, et (ii) à ne prendre aucune mesure visant à démettre Mme Michele Kang de ses fonctions de PDG d'EFG avant le 30 juin 2027'”
- Le Monde — John Textor n'est officiellement plus président de l'OL, Michele Kang le remplace ↗Tier 2 · top media
2025-06-30 · fr — “'l'homme d'affaires américain démissionne de son poste de président du club rhodanien mais aussi de celui d'Eagle Football Group ... Ces mouvements ... ne changent pour l'instant rien au contrôle du club, dont il reste l'actionnaire majoritaire.'”
- OL Groupe — Rapport financier semestriel au 31 décembre 2021 ↗Tier 1 · regulatory filing
2022-02-16 · fr — “Endettement (M€) 31/12/2021 vs 30/06/2021: Trésorerie globale 37,7 / 69,2; Emprunt obligataire et bancaire stade -146,4 / -148,0; Autres dettes financières -181,8 / -181,2 (dont dette PGE -169,0); Endettement net de trésorerie globale -290,5 / -259,9; Créances - dettes nettes contrats joueurs -26,2 / -43,4; Endettement net de trésorerie, y compris créances et dettes joueurs -316,7 / -303,3.”