November 11 2015

Steve Parish

Crystal Palace have re-opened negotiations with an American consortium over investment in the club, according to newspaper reports.

A deal with a party of investors – led by Josh Harris and business partner David Blitzer – apparently fell through this year over a disagreement of the value of Palace.

But now talks have re-opened with the group – linked to private equity firms Apollo and Blackstone – about injecting much-needed cash into the Eagles.

Co-chairman Steve Parish has said previously that any deal would not be a takeover, merely an investment of funds with him still running the club, and recently admitted he needs at least £80million to rebuild Selhurst Park.

Harris is a private equity investor with a fortune of around $ 3-4billion and owns basketball team Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils.

It is reported that Parish will still have the largest stake in the club, with fellow owners Stephen Browett, Martin Long and Jeremy Hosking reducing theirs.

Last November, Parish told the Evening Standard: "If somebody came in and said here’s £150 million for players in a new stadium, as a fan of the club what right have I got to say, ‘Sorry, me and my mates [Long, Browett and Hosking] absolutely love doing this. We’re quite happy down in the bottom half of the Premier League if it’s all the same to you.’

"But I don’t get up in the morning and work on the theory that somebody else will own the club tomorrow. I get up every morning and think that I’ll probably still be here in 10 years."