October 6: Crystal Palace shareholders have brought in the Raine Group to seek further investment in the club, with the Premier League outfit valued at around £900m.
London news channel City AM reported that Raine has been asked to express interest from potential investors and potential buyers. Palace declined to comment, although sources close to the club stressed that the priority is to raise new capital, rather than pursue an outright sale.
The £900m figure is striking given that Woody Johnson paid around £190m for John Textor’s 43% stake last year, valuing the club at around £442m at the time. So Palace are testing the market with a figure more than double that level just 14 months later.
According to City AM, chairman Steve Parish and fellow shareholders Johnson, Josh Harris and David Blitzer believe the increase can be justified by higher global sports ratings, a shortage of Premier League clubs in London and Palace’s recent progress on and off the pitch.
It is an asking valuation, however, rather than a set price for a transaction. No investors have yet been publicly identified.
The first item on the agenda is Selhurst Park. Palace have been trying to deliver a new Main Stand since the project was unveiled in 2017. The roughly £150m redevelopment would take capacity from around 26,000 to more than 34,000 and add a 13,500-seat stand with more hospitality, corporate areas, disabled access and new London club facilities to keep pace with its facilities London club.
Palace completed the purchase of six houses in Wooderson Close in January and began demolishing them in June, while work has also progressed around the Holmesdale End and other parts of the stadium. The club recently told its Fan Advisory Council that contractors had been appointed for individual elements of the build.
Parish acknowledged the club was talking to banks and looking at different options for financing as it operates through construction costs and inflation. That makes Raine’s appointment easier: Palace need capital at a time when one of the club’s biggest infrastructure projects is starting to become very real.
Raine is hardly new to this kind of work. The US bank managed the sale of Chelsea in 2022 and the strategic review of Manchester United, which ended with Sir Jim Ratcliffe buying the club.
Current shareholders Josh Harris and David Blitzer have repeatedly explored selling their shares in the club over the past few years and would now be open to doing so.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)