Jean-Pierre Conte has emerged as a significant backer of fellow U.S. investor John Textor’s takeover of French football club Olympique Lyonnais.

The chairman of San Francisco-based private equity firm Genstar Capital said he is among a group of investors committing about €100 million ($104 million) to support the deal. These investors will take equity stakes in Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings LLC investment vehicle.

Conte, who will join Eagle Football’s board, has family links to France. His father grew up in Lyon during the Second World War before moving to New York, where he later worked as a tailor in Manhattan. Conte said in an interview that he was backing the deal in honor of his father, who played football for a U.S. Army team before getting injured.

Florida-based Textor, a digital entrepreneur who owns football clubs in Europe and Brazil, entered exclusive talks to buy French Ligue 1 team Lyon in June. The takeover, which will value Lyon at about €800 million, has faced delays while lenders agreed to terms. In October, parties set a date of Nov. 17 to close the transaction. Trading of Lyon shares was suspended in Paris this week, pending an announcement.

Textor is also an investor in the English Premier League club Crystal Palace FC. The EPL has been in talks with Eagle Football about Conte and the other new shareholders, who will become de facto investors in Crystal Palace, a person familiar with the matter said, asking to not be identified discussing confidential information.

Representatives for Eagle Football and the EPL declined to comment.

U.S. investment firm Ares Management Corp. has been in talks about helping to finance the Lyon takeover, Bloomberg News reported in September. If the deal closes, it will be the latest example of the growing trend of multiclub ownership in football. The model has been particularly popular with US investors.

Textor has moved quickly from fanatical football fan to one of the sport’s biggest investors, having also bought into Brazilian club Botafogo and Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek. Conte said he thinks Textor is a great leader and is looking forward to improving the teams in Eagle Football’s stable.