Fresh questions about business acumen of Everton bidders

When Farhad Moshiri announced he had agreed to sell his 94.1 per cent stake in Everton to 777 Partners on September 15, it was hoped the deal would be wrapped up by Christmas, with the Florida-based investment firm properly in charge in time for the winter transfer window.

The club’s official statement said the “closing of the transaction is expected in the fourth quarter of 2023” and the briefing was that regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority, English Football Association (FA) and Premier League would take “10 to 12 weeks”.

So, what are we to make of the news that kicked off week 17 of this process when it was revealed on Monday that 777 has loaned the club another £40million ($51m), taking Everton’s total IOU to its prospective new custodians to £142m?

The unofficial statement, issued through the usual “sources close to the deal” channels, was that this represented further proof of 777’s commitment and evidence that Premier League approval — the last and by far the largest regulatory hurdle to clear — was imminent. That, however, is not the consensus, with many of those close to the club, and dotted throughout the football industry, seeing it differently.

For them, the leap in 777’s loan to Everton from £100million to £142m — a month after it had been briefed that £100m was 777’s limit and that sum should be enough to see the club through January — suggests 777 knows Premier League approval is not imminent. The opposite, in fact.

Some have suggested Everton’s hard-working auditors may have asked to see more working capital go into the business before signing off the annual accounts all clubs had to file with the league before the end of December. Some wonder if Laing O’Rourke, the contractor building Everton’s new stadium, has demanded advance payment for a few more months’ work at the Bramley-Moore Dock site.

Others believe this is 777’s attempt to make any possible rival bid for Everton even more unattractive by piling more debt onto the club.

Of course, some of you will point out that this all sounds like guesswork and gossip and what we really have here is the only bit of physics most of us remember: nature abhors a (news) vacuum.  But while there have been no major developments on the main takeover story, there have been plenty from 777’s existing planes-to-players portfolio of investments.

In recent weeks, the Italian tax authorities opened another investigation into Genoa, the Serie A club owned by 777. It seems they were late filing some paperwork in November.

This story would have barely registered for most clubs, but 777, for reasons that have been widely reported, is held to a different standard, which leads us to its Belgian club, Standard Liege.

In mid-December, around the time 777 should have been getting the keys to Everton, Belgian football’s club licensing committee handed Standard a transfer ban for missing wage payments and unpaid taxes.  Again, the misunderstanding was fixed within a week and the ban was lifted, but the episode set tongues wagging once more about 777’s ability to finance the seven-club empire it already has, let alone the Herculean task it will be taking on if it adds loss-making, heavily-indebted and relegation-threatened Everton to the mix. And last week, Standard filed another large annual loss, which slightly punctured 777’s claims to be turnaround specialists.

But there are fresh questions about 777’s business acumen popping up wherever you look in their sprawling network of subsidiaries.

On December 11, three Irish aircraft leasing companies filed a case at London’s High Court that claims 777 owes them $28.5million (£22.4m) in fees and costs associated with four Boeings they leased to the firm’s Canadian budget airline Flair between 2019 and 2022.

In a statement, the three Irish firms said: “Despite being repeatedly notified of their financial obligations, 777 Partners have continued to ignore calls to settle outstanding payments of almost $30 million. 777 Partners cannot just ignore its financial and contractual obligations. This legal action is a last resort.”

In regards to the Irish companies’ case, a 777 spokesperson said: “The English proceedings are likely to be the subject of a stay application (halting whole or part of the proceedings) given that the position of 777 Partners remains that (they are), at best, premature and, at worst, possibly abusing the English court system.

“777 Partners remains supportive of Flair, the lessee, in its ongoing litigation against the egregious behaviour by Airborne, the lessor, and continue to support the just conclusion of the case in the Ontario courts where it is currently being handled.”

Eleven days after the aircraft companies’ claim, a Danish businessman named Lasse Meilsoe filed a case in Miami, Florida seeking repayment of two loans he made to Adlon, a subsidiary of 777, in 2021. His claim is for $1.8million.

When asked for comment on these two most recent cases, 777 said it does not usually discuss active legal proceedings and had nothing to add in regards to Meilsoe’s claim beyond that it has lots of subsidiaries, so it often gets dragged into disagreements that are not of its making.

In Genoa, Liege, Liverpool, London, Miami, Ontario and several other jurisdictions, 777 is looking for just conclusions to its disputes wherever they arise.