FootyChatter.com

By SAMI MOKBEL Published: 01: 10 AEDT, 19 December 2024 | Updated: 01: 10 AEDT, 19 December 2024 5 View comments Global investment firm Sportsbank are on the verge of agreeing a deal with Crystal Palace owner John Textor over his 45 stake in the club. Mail Sport has learned that the group - lead by south London based businessmen Zechariah Janjua and Navshir Jaffer - have been selected as Textor’s preferred bidders in the race for the Selhurst Park boardroom. Sportsbank have been notified of their status as preferred bidder as they look to seal a deal worth £230million. Talks are now at an advanced stage, with sources close to the deal hopeful the transaction can be ratified by the start of February 2025. The structure of the deal is still to be finalised, with discussions over whether Sportsbank will purchase Textor’s 45 percent share in Palace outright or whether they buy into the American businessman’s company Eagle Football Holdings - the umbrella that controls the Premier League club, Botafogo, Lyon and Molenbeek. Either way, Sportsbank will assume responsibility for Palace alongside fellow co-owners Steve Parish and American tycoons Josh Harris and David Blitzer. Sportsbank have emerged as the preferred bidder to take over John Textor's 45 per cent stake in Crystal Palace Sources say interested parties two other parties retain an active interest in Palace. Those groups are 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. However, it would take Sportsbank’s plans to unexpectedly collapse to change the course of Textor’s plans. Sportsbank, who are being advised by high-profile football financier Keith Harris, are being bankrolled by Abu Dhabi and American money. Significantly, the investment firm are prepared to make funds available in the January transfer window if a deal can advance swiftly enough. Textor is satisfied Sportsbank have the funding to complete a deal and pass the Premier League’s owners and directors test. Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group