777 Partners may need to sell assets in new Everton takeover update
777 Partners may need to sell assets or find “fresh sources of capital” to be able to buy, recapitalise and invest in Everton, according to The Esk
The Everton financial expert, who has been featured in the Daily Mail, reported via their website on Thursday (9 November) that it is “impossible” for the Miami-based firm to “square the investment needs of Everton” with their current available resources.
The belief is that 777 does not have the capital to pay off the Toffees’ current debt, meet current cash flow deficits, and pay the outstanding amounts for the Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium all while investing in the playing squad on the pitch.
For the American firm to find this capital, they may be required to sell assets “to meet the requirements of their business plan.” Their business has already invested £1.22 billion ($1.5 billion) and now needs to reduce that exposure.
Reducing related party exposure by half will require £611,287,500 million ($750m) of asset sales or an influx of cash into 777 Partners and “its portfolio companies.”
The fear for Everton is that they could end up with owners who “cannot resource our future requirements whilst meeting the capital needs of their own wider partnership business.”
Worrying times
Farhad Moshiri and those involved in this potential takeover have repeatedly insisted that this is the best thing for Everton as a football club, both financially and in a footballing sense for the future, but currently, that doesn’t appear to be true.
While it will ultimately be up to the Premier League, the Financial Conduct Authority and the FA whether or not this takeover is approved, it seems from an outsider’s perspective that 777 Partners are not at all currently equipped to run the Toffees safely and sustainably.
Before they have even acquired control at Goodison Park, they may have to consider selling hundreds of millions of pounds worth of assets just to be able to match the required investment to keep the Toffees afloat with their heads above the water.
Moshiri’s tenure has been bleak in recent years, with plenty of frustration from the terraces over how he has chosen to run Everton, but it is hard to believe that the current alternative of 777 Partners is a much better option with the more news that appears about the company.
Hopefully, the FCA and the other relevant parties are as sceptical as some of the elements of the Everton fanbase are over the capabilities of their potential new owners.
In other Everton news, 777 Partners have reportedly not disclosed £480 million worth of losses in their Toffees’ takeover bid