U.S. investor Frank McCourt is to finalise his €45 million purchase of Ligue 1 side Marseille on 17 October, RMC has reported.
McCourt, 63, and current OM owner Margarita Louis-Dreyfus agreed the sale in principle in August, and a team of lawyers has since been working on the details of the sale agreement, which now should go through six days before Marseille meet arch-rivals Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1.
Louis-Dreyfus, 54, whose late husband Robert bought OM in 1996, will keep five percent of the club's shares, reportedly for the sake of her Marseille-supporting son, Kyril.
McCourt's proposal for the club, entitled "OM Champions Project," received the unanimous backing of OM employees in September, paving the way for the completion of the sale.
McCourt, who previously owned the Los Angeles Dodgers, told L'Equipe in August that he hopes to return OM to the summit of French football.
"I want a team that targets the title every year -- that's my No. 1 ambition," the Boston-born businessman said. "I would like, one day, for my children to take over the club ... I'm not an investment fund that buys and resells. It's a personal and total commitment. I like sport -- I like winning."
Since OM lifted the last of their nine Ligue 1 titles in 2009-10, they have finished outside the top three four times, including ending last season in 13th, their worst placing since 2000-01.