John Textor is weighing a direct listing of Olympique Lyonnais in New York, people familiar with the matter said, as the US businessman explores a range of options for his stable of football investments.
Florida-based Textor agreed to acquire a majority stake in Paris-listed Lyon last year and is planning a tender offer in the coming days to buy out the French Ligue 1 club’s remaining shareholders. As part of that process, he will raise the possibility to investors of a separate direct listing of Lyon shares on either the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, according to the people.
Any such move would see Lyon become only the second major football club to have a main listing in New York — which has deeper and more liquid capital markets — behind the NYSE-traded English Premier League team Manchester United Plc.
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