Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor is ready to invest more than £40million to increase his 40 per cent stake in the club if Josh Harris and David Blitzer walk away to join Chelsea.
Harris and Blitzer are believed to be the principal financial backers of the consortium fronted by Sir Martin Broughton that is bidding to buy out Roman Abramovich.
The American pair own around 22 per cent of Palace and, should their group be successful in buying Chelsea, would need to sell that stake to comply with Premier League rules.
A preferred buyer for Chelsea is set to be presented to the Government for approval in the week beginning April 18, meaning Harris and Blitzer could have only a matter of weeks to prove they can divest their Palace shares.
The sudden exit of two of their main investors would threaten to destabilise Palace, but Standard Sport understands Textor is ready to step in and purchase Harris and Blitzer’s shares.
American businessman Textor paid £87.5m for an almost 40 per cent stake in Palace in August last year to join Harris, Blitzer and chairman Steve Parish on the Palace board.
Both Textor and Parish, who has run Palace since 2010 and owns 11 per cent, have first refusal on the shares owned by Harris and Blitzer should they be sold.
Textor’s investment last year valued Palace at more than £200m, but that valuation is believed to have increased significantly since.
Palace have now completed the development of a new £20m academy site, the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic has eased and the value of their playing squad is higher.
Florida-based Textor is understood to be open to buying the entirety of Harris and Blitzer’s 22 per cent stake, which would be worth at least £40m if the club was still worth £200m. But while the valuation of Palace has gone up, Harris and Blitzer are not in a strong position to negotiate a higher fee for their shares because they could need a quick sale.
Purchasing Harris and Blitzer’s shares in full would take Textor, who also owns Belgian team RWD Molenbeek and Botafogo in Brazil, to more than 60 per cent and overall control.
Textor is open to splitting the 22 per cent shares with Parish, who saved Palace from liquidation when his CPFC 2010 consortium bought the club in 2010 and has never allowed a majority shareholder at Selhurst Park.
Parish could take up his option of first refusal on the shares, but to stop Textor becoming majority shareholder he would have to negotiate with the American to keep him below the 50 per cent mark.
Parish’s shareholding was diluted from around 18 per cent when Textor invested last year, and it is thought he would continue to oversee the day-to-day running of Palace in any scenario.
Parish has always been open to diluting his stake to welcome further investment but, should Blitzer and Harris depart, it is thought he would prefer outside investment to avoid the prospect of a majority shareholder.
Aside from Textor, there would likely be plenty of interest should a stake in Palace come on the market, not least from a small group of associates of Harris and Blitzer who took up minority shareholdings when the pair arrived in 2015.
Parish and Textor remain on good terms with Harris and Blitzer, despite their efforts to purchase Chelsea. Palace’s four principal owners still hold talks every Friday, and Parish and Textor have been kept informed of the process around the Chelsea sale throughout.
