Everton takeover news: Long ‘delay’ expected after 777 Partners ‘raise some money from somewhere’ – Paul Brown
Everton fans are in for “quite a delay” to find out the verdict on the prospective takeover by 777 Partners, according to Paul Brown.
The former Daily Star journalist gave his view to GIVEMESPORT (25 September) and tipped a decision to take “a lot of time” despite the American company having “clearly raised some money from somewhere”, although it remains unclear how much or what it will go towards.
Brown expects it to at least be “several weeks” before there are developments on the Toffees’ ownership, with the regulators now in charge of the process as “questions have been asked” about their other businesses.
Brown said: “Yeah, there isn’t a lot I can share really. I know this is in the hands of the regulators now and I know that questions have been asked already about some of their businesses and about some of the lawsuits they’re involved in. I think that process is going to take quite a lot of time.
“So, Everton fans probably shouldn’t be expecting a verdict or anything close to a verdict for several weeks, I mean, there could be quite a delay in this because there’s quite a lot for the Premier League to look into. Everything else seems to be in place.
“They’ve clearly raised some money from somewhere. It’s hard to say how much and it’s hard to know whether that is going to cover paying off the existing lenders who it’s understood would both demand repayment if the deal goes through.
“But there’s a lot of things up in the air still. So I think I think we’re in for quite a wait.”
Inevitable
Any takeover of a Premier League club is a major transaction and would take time for everything to be properly checked over by the relevant authorities.
But with the ownership tests becoming stronger this year and the various complicating factors at play in Everton’s case it seems unavoidable that this one in particular is going to take significant time.
The financial situation at Goodison Park may be easier navigated from the inside than looking in from the outside, but it still appears complex, with the presence of current lenders who have different terms to their arrangements in Right and Media Funding Limited and MSP Sports Capital respectively [Liverpool Echo, 21 September].
There is also the matter of 777 having stakes in numerous other clubs and interests outside football, and the lawsuits related to the latter, which the company denies wrongdoing in relation to, an obvious point of interest to regulators.
It appears Moshiri would like to be gone as soon as possible, but there is no benefit to Everton for this process to be rushed through only to leave them in further difficulties.
The more transparency about the process the better for the fans’ confidence, but how much is even feasible in this situation is questionable so Evertonians might be in the dark once more for the coming months.
In other Everton news, alarm bells should be ringing over the potential for a “miracle” Toffees transfer in January.