Michele Kang agrees deal to take control of Lyon

Michele Kang has agreed a takeover of Olympique Lyonnais that would make her the club’s sole controlling shareholder and separate the French side from John Textor’s distressed Eagle Football structure.Kang’s Olympe Bidco vehicle will pay US$30m for Eagle Football Holdings Bidco’s 87.78% stake in the listed company that owns Lyon.The transaction values the acquired shares at about US$0.19 each. Completion remains subject to Lyon receiving approval to remain in Ligue 1 from French football’s financial regulator, the DNCG.Kang has also committed up to €71m in new funding across the next two seasons, rising to €75m when transaction costs are included.An initial €31m will be available when the acquisition closes, providing working capital as Lyon seek to stabilise their finances and prepare for the 2026–27 season.The agreement was reached following a competitive sale process involving Eagle Bidco’s administrators, Cork Gully, Lyon’s secured lenders and the club’s listed parent company.Senior creditors have agreed to restructure parts of Lyon’s debt, including an 18-month payment-in-kind period on existing facilities. Liabilities between Lyon and other Eagle Football affiliates will also be released.The arrangements provide Lyon with additional time and capital to repair their balance sheet while reducing their exposure to the financial problems elsewhere in Textor’s multi-club network.Ares Management, Goldman Sachs, MUFG and MetLife were among the lenders involved in the negotiations.Lyon’s board approved the agreements after concluding that the transaction would protect the group’s viability. The company’s works council also issued a positive opinion.The deal gives Kang direct control after she spent the past year leading Lyon as chair and chief executive during a period of financial and regulatory pressure.She replaced Textor in the club’s senior leadership in 2025 and helped secure the reversal of Lyon’s provisional administrative relegation from Ligue 1.The club nevertheless remained subject to financial restrictions, increasing the need for fresh equity, lower costs and a more sustainable debt structure.Completion would end Textor’s effective control of Lyon and represent a substantial retreat from the Eagle Football model that previously linked the club with Botafogo and other football investments.Lyon will leave the Eagle Football identity and return to the OL Groupe name, while remaining listed on the Paris stock exchange.Kang’s ownership of the men’s club will be separate from OL Lyonnes, the women’s team she already controls through her women’s sports platform.The transaction creates potential governance and operational links across Kang’s football holdings, which also include Washington Spirit and London City Lionesses, although Lyon’s immediate priority will be financial recovery.Kang will appear before the DNCG to present the new ownership and funding plan. The regulator’s decision is the final major condition before the takeover and initial €31m capital injection can be completed.