Farewell to Farhad? Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners is on the verge of buying Everton Football Club, according to multiple media reports. Tony McDonough reports
Multiple media reports, including the BBC, Liverpool ECHO and Bloomberg, are reporting Farhad Moshiri is close to selling his majority stake in Everton FC.
Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners is believed to be on the verge of a takeover of the Merseyside Premier League club. It comes after talks with another potential investor, MSP Sports Capital, collapsed in August.
MSP was reported to be considering an injection of £150m into Everton. However it pulled out of that deal following objections from one of the club’s existing lenders Rights and Media Funding.
MSP remains committed to providing a separate £100m financing package towards the cost of Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Mr Moshiri owns 94.1% of Everton’s shares through his Blue Heaven investment vehicles, and club chairman Bill Kenwright 1.3%. The remaining 4.6% – totalling 6,219 shares – are owned by around 1,500 individuals.
Last week LBN reported that a new online trading facility for the buying and selling of shares in Everton FC was about to be launched.
Mr Moshiri first invested in Everton in 2016 and has gradually increased his stake in the club over the past few years. He also kick-started the construction of the new stadium.
He is believed to have invested around £750m into Everton over the past few years. However, on the pitch this money has not yielded much success.
Despite the hiring of several new managers and significant sums spent on players, the club’s fortunes have gone backwards. They have narrowly escaped relegation from the Premier League for two seasons in a row.
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Co-founded by Joshua Wander and Steven Pasko in 2015, 777 Partners already owns a number of football clubs. They include Standard Liege, Red Star FC, Hertha Berlin, Genoa, Vasco da Gama and Melbourne Victory.
Adding Everton to its portfolio would be a significant coup given the global commercial power of the Premier League.