John Textor has landed Eagle Football Group in trouble after his inaccurate media comments caused the group’s shares to be suspended for two weeks on the European stock market.
The Miami-based billonnaire gave a controversial interview on 11 September making several outlandish claims about Everton, Lyon and the Eagle Football Group that owns Lyon, Botafogo and 45% of Crystal Palace. Now one of those comments has caused a headache for Eagle Football, which has been forced to correct his statement.
Textor said he was due to launch a buyback for Eagle Football’s listed shares but it seems Eagle Football has not actually discussed this. In response, shares were suspended for two weeks while the confusion was unravelled.
A press release from Eagle Football and stock market Euronext says: “During the September 11, 2024, press conference John Textor stated :
“For the remaining shares the publicly traded shares of Eagle Football Group, and I’ll be going to the AMF within the coming weeks proposing a plan to tender for those remaining shares at what is obviously a substantial premium to today’s price and is a price that would even be in excess of the 3 € per share, that we paid previously and I’ll be giving shareholders a choice to take cash at that amount or to take shares in our publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. So that’s something that will also be happening in the near future as a part of this larger capitalization plan .”
“In light of these comments, Eagle Football Group shares have been temporarily suspended from trading.
“Eagle Football Group wishes to clarify the above statement: there are no discussions between John Textor, Eagle Football Holding and Eagle Football Group regarding a possible offer for Eagle Football Group shares.
“Trading in Eagle Football Group shares, which has been suspended since Thursday September 12, will resume on Monday September 23, 2024.”
Textor, who is vocal in his pursuit of Everton Football Club, has already upset the club itself when he revealed he would talk to manager Sean Dyche about his ability to work with young footballers. The move was unusual as he is not involved with the club and caused interim CEO Colin Chong to release a strongly-worded statement supporting Dyche and warning Textor is some way off ownership of the club.
Meanwhile, Textor is also facing potential fines and suspension in Brazil after accusing rival teams of match fixing. The STJD Attorney’s Office (Superior Court of Sports Justice) launched an investigation and investigation suggested that the manager be sentenced to a six-year suspension and a fine of 2 million euros, according to reports in Brazil. He is accused of ‘sporting violations against the honor of seven sporting entities, nine athletes and nine referees’ and has been asked to provide evidence for his comments.
Textor’s media presence is already causing several red flags in his pursuit of Everton Football Club despite reports from Sky Sports suggesting the deal is moving closer. To complete the deal Textor would have to sell Eagle Football’s shares in Crystal Palace – something he says is close – and negotiate the payment of the £200m loan to Friedkin Group.