Five short days left… and OL Groupe will change hands. The parent company of the Olympique Lyonnais football club took advantage of the publication of its annual results for 2021-2022 on September 14 to confirm the closing date of its sale on October 21. From next weekend, the structure that oversees the Rhone football club will be owned by the American businessman John Textor, via his Eagle Football holding… Unless the case experiences a new change in schedule. Initially, it was to be completed on September 30. ” All that remains is to sweep in the corners “, whispered, the day before, an administrator to our colleagues from The Team.
What if it was more complicated? Funding is increasingly taking on the trappings of a game of musical chairs. The boss of the Las Vegas ice hockey club, Bill Foley, who was to guarantee part of the investment, withdrew from the process, challenged by the banks. But, quickly, a new investor, the Ares Management fund, already invested in football through Atletico Madrid, entered the field. He will have to reassure the banks, who consider the capital increase of 86 million euros reserved for John Textor insufficient to comply with the covenants in 2022-2023.
Holder of 80.1% of the capital
Following the redemption of the shares (at the price of 3 euros) and the Osranes (subordinated bonds redeemable in new or existing shares, at 265.57 euros) held by Pathé and IDG, the securities and 50% of the Osranes in the hands d’Holnest, the holding company of Jean-Michel Aulas, and the reserved capital increase, Eagle Football will hold 80.1% of the capital of OL Groupe. This makes the scenario of a takeover bid (OPA) very likely to remove OLG from the listing. On the stock market, the title is trading below this threshold, at 2.86 euros, not reacting to the announcement of the rebound in the accounts at the end of June, driven by the post-Covid recovery.
Turnover, excluding player trading, rose by 36% over one year, to 160.5 million euros, 36.3 million being attributable to ticketing, whose sales were multiplied by 18. Including proceeds from the sale of players, OL Groupe posted revenue of 252.6 million euros, up 42%. Good news, thwarted, quite quickly, later in the income statement. If the gross operating surplus (Ebitda) returned to positive territory, at 15.9 million, against a loss of 33.9 million a year ago, the margin, at 6%, is far from the standards of the ‘OL Group. ” Lack of Champions League/Europa League continued to weigh on results », Comments the analyst from Oddo BHF. Still anchored in negative territory, the operating result stood at -41.1 million and the net result at -55 million. Under such conditions, it is impossible for the balance sheet to recover. At the end of June, net debt, including debt on player contracts, remained at a very high level of 331 million euros, but, very fortunately, OL Groupe benefited from a “covenant holiday” from its bank and bond lenders. A covenant today at risk.
PC