A deal almost done. The president of Olympique Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas, announced on Thursday June 9 that he intended to conclude by June 23 discussions on a buyout of a share in the capital of OL Groupe, which could lead to a takeover of the club by a new investor. “We are in “money time”. Everything can change overnight one way or the other, but I intend to have concluded the subject on June 23,” Aulas told the press during the presentation of rookie Alexandre. Lacazette, back at OL after five years at Arsenal.
According to information from L’Équipe and RMC Sport, the American businessman Foster Gillett is a candidate to buy out shares in the Pathé group and the Chinese investment fund IDG, representing a total of nearly 40% of the group’s shares. .
“There is a process that is going on. There is no certainty about the discussions held, “said Jean-Michel Aulas. On the stock market, the OL Groupe share lost 2.24% to 3.06 euros at the opening on Thursday morning after having taken up to 28% the day before on this press information.
On March 9, Pathé, OL’s historic partner since 1999, and IDG, which joined the round table in 2016, jointly announced that they had mandated investment bank Raine to sell their shares, which represent 19, 36% and 19.85% of the capital of OL Groupe, i.e. 39.21% of the total.
If an investor bought all these shares alone, he would take control of OL. Jean-Michel Aulas, chairman since June 1987, is currently the majority shareholder through his family holding company Holnest, which holds 27.72% of the capital.
“The important point is that, in all the discussions, it was specified that we were going to make a very significant reinforcement of equity […] The main information is that we will have the means of our ambition and that I will be present in as CEO for the future,” added Aulas, who is 73 years old.