American investment firm 777 Partners are in ‘advanced talks’ over full takeover of Everton, according to reports.
Late Monday evening, Bloomberg reported that the Miami-based firm, who have controlling stakes in multiple football clubs, were edging towards a deal to take control of the club and bring an end to current owner Farhad Moshiri’s time at the helm.
The Telegraph has now claimed that a deal is at an ‘advanced stage’ and that Moshiri, who acquired a majority stake in the Toffees back in 2016, would be leaving the club with a fraction of the money that he has ploughed into the club over the past seven and a half years.
777, co-founded in 2015 by Joshua Wander and Steven Pasko, have been adding clubs to their multi-club portfolio at pace in recent years, with the firm having targeted largely distressed assets, with acquisitions of Standard Liege, Red Star FC, Hertha Berlin, Genoa, Vasco da Gama and Melbourne Victory all being concluded.
Everton have been seeking external investment for both the club and the stadium for some time. Earlier this summer it appeared that a deal was all but done with New York-based MSP Sports Capital for £150m in funding, £100m of it for the stadium and the rest to recapitalise the club. However, owing to objections from existing lender Rights and Media Funding Limited to various aspects of the deal, the plan for MSP to take an equity share in Everton and operational control was abandoned, although the £100m loan deal remains intact.
Everton had been in talks with 777 Partners earlier this year before breaking off to enter into an exclusivity agreement with MSP. Once the MSP deal was ended for a stake in the club, talks almost immediately resumed with 777 Partners, who are keen to add a Premier League football club to their portfolio.
