(Bloomberg) --

U.S. investor John Textor is keen to increase his 40% stake in south London’s Crystal Palace Football Club, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

Textor could buy shares from Crystal Palace co-owner Josh Harris if the latter is successful with a bid for rival Premier League club Chelsea FC, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

A company controlled by Harris and others, including private equity veteran David Blitzer, holds roughly another 40% of Crystal Palace, according to accounts filed with the U.K.’s Companies House. It’s likely Harris would need to offload his shares if he completed a takeover of Chelsea.

That could give Florida-based Textor, dubbed a “virtual-reality guru” by Forbes Magazine, the chance to up his stake in Crystal Palace as he moves deeper into sports ownership. 

Textor is the founder of Eagle Football LLC, an investment vehicle named in part for Crystal Palace’s club emblem. He bought a stake in Crystal Palace in 2021. A proponent of multi-club ownership, his other football investments include Belgian team RWD Molenbeek and Botafogo in Brazil. 

Crystal Palace has slowly been carving out a reputation for exciting football under the coaching of Frenchman Patrick Vieira, the former World Cup winner installed last summer. The club sits 11th in the English Premier League table and will on Sunday contest a quarter final of the prestigious FA Cup competition. Its other investors include chairman Steve Parish, who holds about 11%.

Representatives for Crystal Palace and Eagle Football declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Harris couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. 

Harris, a co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc., is among a raft of bidders chasing Chelsea, one of the most prized assets in world football. Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich put the west London club up for sale after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the U.K. government to place him under far-reaching sanctions for his ties to President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Read more: The Florida Financiers Buying Up Europe’s Soccer Teams

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