Accessibility Statement Skip Navigation
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • +44 (0)20 7454 5110
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
Return to PR Newswire homepage
  • News
  • Products
  • Contact
When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type.

Searching for your content...

No results found. Please change your search terms and try again.
  • News in Focus
      • Browse News Releases

      • All Public Company News
      • All Multimedia News
      • View All News Releases

      • Regulatory News

      • D/A/CH Regulatory News
      • UK Regulatory News
      • View All Regulatory News

  • Business & Money
      • Auto & Transportation

      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Air Freight
      • Airlines & Aviation
      • Automotive
      • Maritime & Shipbuilding
      • Railroads & Intermodal Transportation
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
      • Travel
      • Trucking & Road Transportation
      • View All Auto & Transportation

      • Business Technology

      • Blockchain
      • Broadcast Tech
      • Computer & Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Components
      • Electronic Design Automation
      • Financial Technology
      • High Tech Security
      • Internet Technology
      • Nanotechnology
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Semiconductors
      • View All Business Technology

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film & Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Financial Services & Investing

      • Accounting News & Issues
      • Acquisitions, Mergers & Takeovers
      • Banking & Financial Services
      • Bankruptcy
      • Bond & Stock Ratings
      • Conference Call Announcements
      • Contracts
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Dividends
      • Earnings
      • Earnings Forecasts & Projections
      • Financing Agreements
      • Insurance
      • Investments Opinions
      • Joint Ventures
      • Mutual Funds
      • Private Placement
      • Real Estate
      • Restructuring & Recapitalisation
      • Sales Reports
      • Shareholder Activism
      • Shareholder Meetings
      • Stock Offering
      • Stock Split
      • Venture Capital
      • View All Financial Services & Investing

      • General Business

      • Awards
      • Commercial Real Estate
      • Corporate Expansion
      • Earnings
      • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
      • Human Resource & Workforce Management
      • Licensing
      • New Products & Services
      • Obituaries
      • Outsourcing Businesses
      • Overseas Real Estate (non-US)
      • Personnel Announcements
      • Real Estate Transactions
      • Residential Real Estate
      • Small Business Services
      • Socially Responsible Investing
      • Surveys, Polls & Research
      • Trade Show News
      • View All General Business

  • Science & Tech
      • Consumer Technology

      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud Computing/Internet of Things
      • Computer Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Consumer Electronics
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Gaming
      • Financial Technology
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Multimedia & Internet
      • Peripherals
      • Social Media
      • STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Consumer Technology

      • Energy & Natural Resources

      • Alternative Energies
      • Chemical
      • Electrical Utilities
      • Gas
      • General Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Oil & Energy
      • Oil & Gas Discoveries
      • Utilities
      • Water Utilities
      • View All Energy & Natural Resources

      • Environ­ment

      • Conservation & Recycling
      • Environmental Issues
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Products & Services
      • Green Technology
      • Natural Disasters
      • View All Environ­ment

      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Aerospace & Defence
      • Agriculture
      • Chemical
      • Construction & Building
      • General Manufacturing
      • HVAC (Heating, Ventilation & Air-Conditioning)
      • Machinery
      • Machine Tools, Metalworking & Metallurgy
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Paper, Forest Products & Containers
      • Precious Metals
      • Textiles
      • Tobacco
      • View All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Telecomm­unications

      • Carriers & Services
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Telecommunications Equipment
      • Telecommunications Industry
      • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Telecomm­unications

  • Lifestyle & Health
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      • Animals & Pets
      • Beers, Wines & Spirits
      • Beverages
      • Bridal Services
      • Cannabis
      • Cosmetics & Personal Care
      • Fashion
      • Food & Beverages
      • Furniture & Furnishings
      • Home Improvement
      • Household, Consumer & Cosmetics
      • Household Products
      • Jewellery
      • Non-Alcoholic Beverages
      • Office Products
      • Organic Food
      • Product Recalls
      • Restaurants
      • Retail
      • Supermarkets
      • Toys
      • View All Consumer Products & Retail

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film & Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Health

      • Biometrics
      • Biotechnology
      • Clinical Trials & Medical Discoveries
      • Dentistry
      • FDA Approval
      • Fitness/Wellness
      • Health Care & Hospitals
      • Health Insurance
      • Infection Control
      • International Medical Approval
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Pharmaceuticals
      • Mental Health
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Supplementary Medicine
      • View All Health

      • Sports

      • General Sports
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Sporting Events
      • Sports Equipment & Accessories
      • View All Sports

      • Travel

      • Amusement Parks & Tourist Attractions
      • Gambling & Casinos
      • Hotels & Resorts
      • Leisure & Tourism
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Passenger Aviation
      • Travel Industry
      • View All Travel

  • Policy & Public Interest
      • Policy & Public Interest

      • Animal Welfare
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Economic News, Trends & Analysis
      • Education
      • Environmental
      • European Government
      • Labour & Union
      • Natural Disasters
      • Not For Profit
      • Public Safety
      • View All Policy & Public Interest

  • People & Culture
      • People & Culture

      • Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American
      • African American
      • Asian American
      • Children
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Hispanic
      • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual
      • Men's Interest
      • People with Disabilities
      • Religion
      • Senior Citizens
      • Veterans
      • Women
      • View All People & Culture

  • Overview
  • Distribution
  • Paid Placement
  • Multimedia
  • Disclosure Services
  • SocialBoost
  • Rooms
    • MediaRoom
    • ESG Rooms
  • AI Tools
  • General Enquiries
  • Media Enquiries
  • Partnerships
  • Hamburger menu
  • Cision PR Newswire UK provides press release distribution, targeting, monitoring, and marketing services
  • Send a Release
    • Phone

    • +44 (0)20 7454 5110 from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT

    • ALL CONTACT INFO
    • Contact Us

      +44 (0)20 7454 5110
      from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT

  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • News in Focus
    • Browse News Releases
    • Regulatory News
  • Business & Money
    • Auto & Transportation
    • Business Technology
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Financial Services & Investing
    • General Business
  • Science & Tech
    • Consumer Technology
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Environ­ment
    • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
    • Telecomm­unications
  • Lifestyle & Health
    • Consumer Products & Retail
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Health
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Policy & Public Interest
    • Policy & Public Interest
  • People & Culture
    • People & Culture
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Overview
  • Distribution
  • Paid Placement
  • Multimedia
  • Disclosure Services
  • Cision Communications Cloud®
  • AI Tools
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • General Enquiries
  • Media Enquiries
  • Partnerships
  • Client Login
  • Send a Release
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists

Eagle Football Acquires Legendary Ligue 1 Club Olympique Lyonnais

This image opens in the lightbox

News provided by

Eagle Football Holdings Limited

20 Dec, 2022, 20:28 GMT

Share this article

Share toX

Share this article

Share toX

Transaction Creates One of the Largest Professional Football Groups in the World with Interests in Olympique Lyonnais, Crystal Palace, Botafogo, and RWD Molenbeek

Additional Investors include Leading Global Investors Ares Management, Iconic Sports and Elmwood Partners

LYON, France and LONDON, Dec. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited ("Eagle Football"), a London-based group founded by digital entrepreneur and football enthusiast John Textor with interests in English Premier League club, Crystal Palace, Brazil Serie A Club, Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, and Belgium First Division B Club, RWD Molenbeek, today announced that it has acquired on December 19, 2022 a significant controlling stake in Olympique Lyonnais Groupe SA ("OL").  Long-term Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OL, Jean-Michel Aulas, will continue to oversee OL's diverse sports and entertainment organisation and will become a director of Eagle Football Holdings Limited. As part of the transaction, Eagle Football will file as soon as practicable, on behalf of the concert with Holnest, a simplified cash tender offer for the shares and OSRANEs it does not own at the price of €3 per share and €265.57 per OSRANE.

Eagle Football Group was established to create a unique model of football ownership, focusing on historic, top-level clubs in major markets, fostering collaboration between clubs and communities to improve fan enjoyment and strengthen competitive outcomes.

In connection with the transaction, funds managed by leading global alternative investor Ares Management ("Ares"), as well as highly experienced investors Iconic Sports and Elmwood Partners, have invested in Eagle Football Holdings Limited.  Members of the investment consortium were selected for their specific and meaningful experience in the ownership and development of sporting organisations, as well as in technology and entertainment. 

Eagle Football believes its approach is unique within the multi-club landscape, having acquired interests in clubs that are community-centric, academy and development focused, and located in markets that offer specific advantages in talent identification and player migration.  The fans of Eagle Football clubs are already enjoying the cross-border family of clubs and communities, reaching out to each other across social media, wearing the kits of their 'brother clubs', and sharing ideas about talent collaboration.

John Textor stated, "Today is a new beginning for Olympique Lyonnais, an historic club that truly deserves a global stage.  With the #1 women's program in the world and a men's program that should expect again to fight for championships, Jean-Michel Aulas has built a world-class organisation of which the City of Lyon and its passionate fans can be proud. I look forward to many years of partnership with Jean-Michel as we work together to meet the high expectations of our supporters."

Mr. Textor continued, "I would like to call our supporters attention to the key backers of Eagle Football without whose help this investment would not have been possible.  The ownership experience of both Iconic Sports and Ares in global professional sports, including football, means they bring much more than just capital to our family of clubs. In addition, the technology and consumer-apps experience of Elmwood Partners will help us to set new standards for the future of fan enjoyment."

Jamie Dinan, of Iconic Sports, Eagle Football's lead equity investor for the OL transaction, added, "John is a visionary who has built an era-defining platform, and together we have a sophisticated strategic vision, business plan and growth strategy for Eagle Football, which we believe will position our clubs for competitive success and create value for all of our stakeholders. We are thrilled to partner with John and the other investors to build the resources necessary to fight for the titles that we know our fans expect."

Mark Affolter, a Partner in Ares' Sports, Media and Entertainment strategy, said, "Ares is excited to support Eagle Football's differentiated approach to building and growing leading football clubs. As long-term investors with significant experience across global markets and professional sports franchises, we look forward to providing our flexible capital and market insights to help the teams deliver incredible experiences for fans around the world."

Advisors

The Raine Group is serving as lead financial advisor for the purchase of OL by Eagle Football. DLA Piper LLP is serving as legal counsel, and Index Atlas Group is serving as strategic and financial advisor, to Eagle Football.  Tifosy Capital & Advisory is serving as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel, to Iconic Sports.  Proskauer Rose LLP is serving as legal counsel to Ares. Covington & Burling LLP is serving as legal counsel to Elmwood.      

About John Textor/Eagle Football Holdings

Mr. Textor is a globally recognized, pioneer and developer of disruptive technologies, creative content, and digital distribution business models for media, entertainment and the internet. Mr. Textor created Eagle Football Group to consolidate, and strengthen the collaboration across, his ownership interests in the notable football clubs Crystal Palace (London UK), Botafogo (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) and RWD Molenbeek (Brussels, Belgium), and following its acquisition announced today, Olympique Lyonnais, a Ligue 1 club based in Lyon. 

About Iconic Sports

Formed in 2021, Iconic Sports is an investment group comprised of James G. Dinan, Founder of York Capital Management and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association; Alexander Knaster, Founder of Pamplona Capital and owner of Pisa Sporting Club; Edward Eisler, Founder of Eisler Capital; and Tifosy Capital & Advisory, a leading London-based boutique sports advisory firm. The founders of Iconic Sports bring together a powerful combination of decades of experience, industry relationships and global expertise across sports, finance and management in the United States and Europe.

About Ares Management

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of September 30, 2022, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $341 billion of assets under management, with over 2,450 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.

Media Contacts:

For Eagle 
Press@EagleFootball.com

For Olympique Lyonnais
Florent Deligia
+33 6 81 75 34 15
fdeligia@ol.fr

For Iconic Sports
Jonathan Gasthalter/Nathaniel Garnick
Gasthalter & Co.
+1 (212) 257-4170
iconicsports@gasthalter.com

For Ares
Brunswick Group
Max McGahan/Simone Selzer (London)
Guillaume Maujean/Tristan Roquet-Montegon (Paris)
+44 20 7404 5959 / +33 1 53 96 83 83
media.europe@aresmgmt.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1972373/Eagle___Logo_FINAL_Logo.jpg

Modal title

Contact PR Newswire

  • +44 (0)20 7454 5110
    from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT
  • General Enquiries
  • Media Enquiries
  • Partnerships

Products

  • Content Distribution
  • Multimedia Services
  • Disclosure Services
  • Cision Communications Cloud®

About

  • About PR Newswire
  • About Cision
  • Partnering Opportunities
  • Careers
  • APAC
  • APAC - Simplified Chinese
  • APAC - Traditional Chinese
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Czech
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Israel
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Mexico
  • Middle East
  • Middle East - Arabic
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • United States
  • Vietnam

My Services

  • All News Releases
  • Customer Portal
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
  • Data Privacy

Do not sell or share my personal information:

  • Submit via Privacy@cision.com 
  • Call Privacy toll-free: 877-297-8921

Contact PR Newswire

Products

About

My Services
  • All News Releases
  • Customer Portal
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Journalists
+44 (0)20 7454 5110
from 8 AM - 5:30 PM GMT
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Information Security Policy
  • Site Map
  • RSS
  • Cookie Settings
Copyright © 2025 PR Newswire Europe Limited. All Rights Reserved. A Cision company.