The minority Everton shareholders, who fear the recent takeover of the club has led to a dramatic collapse in the value of their stakes, have had a request to meet the new owner, The Friedkin Group (TFG), rejected.
As The Times reported in January, there are about 1,500
supporters who own approximately 8,000 shares, which before Everton were sold
by Farhad Moshiri to TFG in December, amounted to 5 per cent of the club.
As recently as November last year, shares were being traded
in private sales for £3,400. But the £400million takeover has led to the total
number of shares increasing from 135,000 to more than 1.6million, with the
supporters’ collective stake now less than 0.5 per cent, and concerned fans
estimating that each individual share has plummeted in value to as little
as £175.
Ian Kilbride, a lifelong fan of the club and businessman,
who last year committed £2million to support Everton disability and literacy
programmes, calculates that his own stake has dropped in value from £680,000 to
about £35,000, based on the price of £3,400 he paid to increase his total number
of shares to 200 in November.
At the meeting, he asked Colin Chong, Everton’s interim
chief executive, if he could organise a meeting with TFG, led by American Dan
Friedkin, to discuss the issue directly. However, Chong responded on February
11 by saying that TFG did not consider such a meeting necessary.
Dilution of share value often happens when a company is
taken over, indeed I have experienced it a number of time myself. When I bought shares in my EFL and
non-league clubs, I saw it as a donation rather than an investment. However, clearly some of these shareholders
have taken a big hit.
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