Just as Pierre Sage arrives at Crystal Palace, some fans have grown concerned amid rumours about those in the boardroom.
A story from the Financial Times is now claiming that Woody Johnson, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are ‘exploring’ a sale after the Eagles won the UEFA Conference League.
It raised several questions amongst the fanbase, with Crystal Palace supporters unsure whether the American trio are looking to move on entirely, or just sell a fraction of their stake.
Adam Williams – Head of Football Finance and Governance Content at GRV Media – has now spoken to We Are Palace about the situation.
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Boardroom situation may lead to more Selhurst Park expansion delays
Williams said: “The report suggests that Palace are looking at a variety of different options, which might include a full sale or more minority investment.
“Sometimes when an ownership group undertakes this process, they might be stress-testing their own valuation at the club, seeing whether the market agrees with them. So, while it is of course entirely possible that a full takeover is on the cards, it’s useful to approach these things with some cynicism too.
“The stake that (Woody) Johnson acquired last year valued the club at £550m and the FT (Financial Times) report suggests that it is Harris, Blitzer and Johnson who are looking for potential buyers here, not including Parish. I think the politics there, plus the makeup of the ownership where no one shareholder has an overall majority, could make this a tricky process. There are a lot of ducks to get in a row and a lot of stakeholders to keep happy. They are in safe hands with Raine Group, though. They are the go-to firm for these types of deals.”
Williams – who also spoke about Crystal Palace’s new sponsors Temporal recently – added: “Harris and Blitzer paid £100m to acquire the club, but the club has also sucked up something like £200m in further investment since that date. So to make a profit, they’d have to sell for a chunky price to make a sizeable return on investment, accounting for the cost of capital too. Valuations keep trending upwards, however, and I don’t doubt that there will be enough interested parties to make a competitive process. Do I think investing in any Premier League club is a good deal? No, but Palace arguably have more going for them than most.
“In terms of their motivations, there are, in my view, three different possibilities. One, they truly want to exit their investment and make a profit. Two, they want to realise some of the value of their investment without exiting completely, or three, they want to bring in fresh investment to help cover costs, namely the new stadium.
“Instinctively, that last option looks the most likely to me. Palace have finance from Goldman Sachs, but it doesn’t look like that is going to cover the cost of the project entirely. The bad news for Palace fans is that, if the stadium redevelopment is predicated on new investment coming in, expect to see more delays to the project, because these processes are seldom quick.”
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