Everton debts set to be wiped out by Dan Friedkin takeover in £550m equity investment update
Everton face finally being debt free with The Friedkin Group’s takeover offer sorting the club’s three main debts, Alan Myers reports.
According to the Sky Sports journalist via X on 23 September Dan Friedkin’s deal to buy the club from Farhad Moshiri will “cover” the money owed to A-Cap and to Rights and Media Funding Ltd, while turning their own into equity.
He reported via the Sky Sports website the same day that the Roma chief’s deal is set to bring up to £550million in equity investment, which would cover the £200m TFG put in to pay off MSP Sports Capital before abandoning their previous bid in the summer, plus the £200m lent by 777 Partners which has been taken over by A-Cap, and the reduced £150m due to RMF after it was “significantly” paid down recently [The Athletic, 13 September].
Uncertainty around the 777/A-Cap is what caused Friedkin to walk away on 19 July [The Athletic], but according to talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs an agreement has been reached with A-Cap which there is “full confidence” will be accepted by a court in the US where they are engaged in a complicated legal dispute [The Athletic, 20 July].
Moshiri himself has had to right off a large amount of his own investment, with the “huge” loss potentially amounting to £750m according to Myers, but Jacobs added that the deal’s success is down to Friedkin securing individual deals with the interested parties.
Everton debts to A-Cap and RMF to be covered in takeover
Friedkin appears to have been putting in a lot of legwork behind the scenes to get an offer in place to surpass John Textor just when it looked like the latter was closing in on a deal with Moshiri [Myers, 22 September].
TFG sources had suggested to i News on 17 September that they weren’t back at the negotiating table despite a 16 September report from Bloomberg that interest had been reignited.
But it is hard to imagine the American wrapped up everything with A-Cap, Right & Media, and then Moshiri all over the “intense” weekend talks Myers reported.
It is certainly a good sign for the longer-term competency of governance at Everton that Friedkin and company got all this lined up and have now secured an agreement with Moshiri.
The Toffees have been plagued by uncertainty and drama around the ownership for at least two years now, and it feels so much longer, but the new era that felt within touching distance in the summer is now even closer.
In the context of four failed attempts fans will be hesitant to get ahead of themselves but in terms of off-pitch news this looks some of the most positive for years.
It will now be down to the embattled Sean Dyche and his players to follow suit on it, although the manager’s job prospects have likely taken a hit with the prospect of a takeover gaining Premier League approval within a matter of weeks [Jacobs].
In other Everton news, Moshiri was not happy with what John Textor did, allowing Friedkin to swoop in to secure a takeover deal.
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