Everton takeover consortium led by Peter Kenyon dispute reports that deal is off
The consortium who have been in talks regarding a takeover at Everton have disputed reports the deal is off, according to Dave Powell.
News broke on Friday evening that the exclusivity period for negotiations with the group led by Peter Kenyon and featuring Maciek Kaminski had ended and owner Farhad Moshiri was moving on.
The Liverpool Echo’s Christopher Beesley reported on Twitter that the deal was “dead”, but his colleague on the business side of football at the Echo, Powell, has received contradictory messages from the other side.
Powell wrote on Twitter following the initial reports: “Latest on EFC. I’m told by Kaminski group that their position hasn’t changed and that ‘paperwork was exchanged overnight’ with regards to exclusivity extension.
“Group say the situation hasn’t changed despite reports to the contrary and that they remain ‘the only show in town’.”
He followed up to clarify: “Re: contradictory stories over EFC takeover. I’m simply relaying the information that sources from the other side have told me.
“They remain adamant that it’s still ongoing. What the actual position is right now is something we are trying to ascertain.”
Confusion
It remains to be seen what the outcome of these mixed messages are but clearly there is some sort of disagreement.
Both sides can’t be right, and if the exclusivity period has ended then presumably it cannot be extended without both parties agreeing.
It is obviously in the buyers’ interest to extend, so why Moshiri’s side would claim to be moving on if they had done an exchange to prolong the period doesn’t make sense.
Unless there has been a major misunderstanding it certainly suggests that the current ownership isn’t interested in continuing with this takeover.
It would be pretty difficult to complete a deal without Moshiri’s cooperation so it is easier to believe that it now won’t happen, and certainly not in the next few weeks as had been suggested.
There were other approaches before the Kenyon group took charge [Mirror] so one of them could come forward and still be successful, but for now it certainly looks like Everton changing hands isn’t imminent.