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Everton deal with Texans edges closer

The billionaire Friedkin family has entered exclusive talks to acquire Everton Football Club from British-Iranian owner Farhad Moshiri, in a significant step towards resolving the uncertainty hanging over the English Premier League side. The Texas-based Friedkin Group, which already owns Italian side AS Roma, had signed an exclusivity agreement and due diligence was under way, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

However, the Everton takeover process has been rocky and there is no guarantee of an agreement. A takeover would also require Premier League approval. “It’s absolutely not a done deal,” one person warned the Financial Times.

Daniel Friedkin, whose net worth is estimated at $6bn by Forbes, owns Gulf States Toyota, a car distributor in the US south, and other business interests including film studios. He is known for his love of aviation, flying Spitfires and other vintage aircraft, and was Tom Hardy’s stunt pilot in the Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk.

Financial details of the Friedkin Group’s approach for Everton could not be established. However, consultancy Football Benchmark valued the club at between €519mn and €574mn, including debt, in a recent ranking of clubs.

Everton’s finances took a hit due to playing matches behind closed doors during the pandemic. The situation was exacerbated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which forced Everton to cut ties with sponsors linked to tycoon Alisher Usmanov, Moshiri’s former business partner.

The club owes hundreds of millions of pounds to lenders including Rights and Media Funding and MSP Sports Capital. 777 lent more than $200mn to Everton but that debt appears to have shifted to US firm Advantage Capital (A-Cap), a big lender to the Miami investment group. Other lenders to Everton include stockbroker entrepreneur Andy Bell and property magnate George Downing, who had also held talks to acquire the club.

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