Skip to main content

Face-to-face talks with Everton bidders

The Premier League will hold face-to-face talks with 777 Partners as part of the final decision-making process in Everton’s proposed takeover.

An agreement to meet has been struck between the league and the Miami-based group, who have been waiting for approval since last September to purchase Farhad Moshiri’s 94 per cent stake in Everton.

The discussions come a fortnight after the league, as part of its owners’ and directors’ test, asked 777 to submit further information about the company’s source of funding and its ability to fund the club over a three-year period.

Much of the focus in recent days has fallen on Everton’s Profitability and Sustainability issues, with the club having a ten-point penalty reduced to six after an appeal. A second charge relating to a breach of Premier League spending rules remains outstanding, with a hearing set to take place in the coming weeks.

However, clarity on the ownership of Everton is also crucial, with 777 having so far loaned the club about £190 million to cover day-to-day running costs and those incurred through the building of a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

There is frustration at 777, whose co-founder Josh Wander is in the UK this week, over the length of time the process has taken amid suggestions 777 will not continue loaning money to Everton beyond March.

Face-to-face dialogue with the Premier League is significant, therefore, as 777 wait to see if their bid to gain control of the Merseyside club will be approved. It is unlikely that a decision would be made at the meeting, but it will be a chance for the Premier League to ask direct questions of those heading a company whose business practices have drawn criticism.

Even if 777 pass the owners’ and directors’ test, they would still need to be officially ratified by an independent oversight panel, as was the case in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of 27.7 per cent of Manchester United, which was rubber-stamped this month.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...
Post a Comment
Read more