Updated: The long-running 777 takeover saga should reach some sort of conclusion today, 31 May 2024.
The Share Purchase Agreement that 777 Partners secured with Farhad Moshiri back in September to take over his 94.1% equity share in Everton Football Club for around £500m is expected to expire at midnight Eastern Daylight Time in the USA (5 am BST on Saturday morning).
In practical terms, this should signal the final day on which the takeover can occur, after a gruelling 8½ months of negative stories about 777 Partners have appeared on a weekly basis.
Their dubious financial schemes and obscure sourcing of funds should, among a whole host of other concerns, have seen this 777 venture brought to a close at a much earlier stage. But it was reported that approval by the Financial Conduct Authority was surprisingly granted in late December.
Reports suggest that approval from the FCA was time-limited and has now elapsed, meaning that any prospective buyer would need to submit a fresh application to the FCA.
However, it is the Premier League, whose Directors and Owners Test lies at the centre of the approval process, that has seemed reluctant to use this mechanism to deem what a legal claim in the US describes as a massive Ponzi scheme not fit and proper for the ownership of one of their longest serving clubs.
That approval process was initially expected to take 12 weeks and thus should have been completed by last Christmas. The Premier League appeared to give their tacit assent in March when they said they were “minded to approve” the takeover — provided that a set of four daunting financial conditions were met.
The massive sums, running into multiple hundreds of millions of pounds, required to meet those conditions appear to have proved to be the final stumbling block as the 777 edifice continued to crumble despite total assets claimed to be worth more than £10bn.
The first sign that they may not be able to meet the Premier League’s imposed conditions came in April when a deadline to pay off a substantial £158m loan from MSP Sports Capital had to be extended.
Yet throughout the lengthy approval process, 777 Partners have demonstrated that they can come up with eye-watering sums of money to sustain the day-to-day operations of Everton Football Club and the hugely important construction project underway at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Farhad Moshiri has explained to the Everton Fan Advisory Board that he cannot engage with other suitors who have approached him after the FAB expressed concerns about the impact of ongoing uncertainty surrounding the takeover.
One of those expressing interest has been John Textor but his current ownership stake of 45% in Crystal Palace would have to be resolved before he could make an offer to Farhad Moshiri.
Other potential buyers are rumoured to be waiting to step in once today’s deadline expires, but the massive sums that must be provided to secure the takeover and finance the club going forward are seen as unviable by various financial experts who believe that Everton’s total debt burden must be restructured before a sale can proceed.
And despite the riches guaranteed by continuing membership of the Premier League, which Sean Dyche’s team secured in dogged style over the last weeks of a gruelling campaign, Everton continue to bleed money at an alarming rate, with around £95m still needed to ensure completion of the new Everton Stadium.
After the deadline had passed on Saturday morning, the club issued this statement:
Everton Football Club would like to provide the following update to all stakeholders, and particularly its supporters.
The agreement between 777 Partners and Blue Heaven Holdings Limited for the sale and purchase of the majority shareholding in the Club expired today. The Club’s Board of Directors recognises the considerable level of financial support 777 Partners has provided the Club over recent months and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for this.
The Club will continue to operate as usual, while it works with Blue Heaven Holdings to assess all options for the Club’s future ownership.
The Board of Directors would like to thank everyone connected to Everton for their patience over recent months and reiterate its commitment to providing further updates when it is appropriate to do so through the Club’s official communication channels.