Leeds United rivals have received a takeover bid which has been deemed controversial due to the person linked with taking over
One of Leeds United’s Premier League relegation rivals has reportedly received a £400m takeover bid in recent days.
Former Crystal Palace owner John Textor is said to have shown an interest in putting together a takeover bid at Championship crisis club Sheffield Wednesday ahead of the decision to place the Owls into administration last week - but The Athletic have now claimed Textor has firmly turned his attention towards Wolves on a weekend when their dismal start to the Premier League season continued with a home defeat against fellow strugglers Burnley.
Vitor Perreira’s side appeared to have fought their way back from two goals down to earn a point against the Clarets after a quickfire double from Jorgen Strand Larsen and Marshall Munetsi cancelled out a brace from Burnley striker Zian Flemming. However, a last-gasp effort from Lyle Foster handed the points to Scott Parker’s men and ensured Wolves are still without a win in their opening nine games of the season and currently sitting six points from safety at the bottom of the Premier League table.
The aftermath of the defeat against the Clarets brought an understandably angry response from the Molineux faithful and some of that anger was directed towards current owners, the Fosun Group. Supporters have been calling for a change of ownership in recent seasons and Textor, who sold his minority share in Palace earlier this year, is now said to be keen to add Wolves to his Eagle Football Group portfolio.
Complicated
Wolverhampton Wanderers are closing in on the signing of Bristol City youngster Ashton Williams.placeholder image
Wolverhampton Wanderers are closing in on the signing of Bristol City youngster Ashton Williams. | Wolves via Getty Images
The American businessman owns stakes in Brazilian side Botafogo, Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais and Belgian outfit RWDM Brussels and is now keen to secure ownership of Wolves. The Athletic’s Matt Slater has reported Textor has submitted an offer of ‘$200million in cash and $350million in shares in a rebooted version of his multi-club group’ to the current Wolves owners and would launch the new-look group on the New York Stock Exchange.
However, the report also claims the Fosun Group are unlikely to accept the offer and are ‘not interested in Textor’s Eagle shares and only wants to sell a minority stake’. There is also a complicating factor within the Eagles Football Group as primary lender Ares Management are involved in legal action to recover the £320m it lent to Textor to purchase Lyon in 2022. There is also an ongoing dispute with Iconic Sports Eagle Investment over a $75m investment in EFG that allowed Textor to buy back their shares if the plan to take the group public failed. However, once it did fail to come to fruition, the former Palace owner failed to purchase the shares the following year.
Continue Reading