Everton Shareholders and The Friedkin Group…

Although it turns out there is less clarity and more confusion, with new shares issued to give Roundhouse either 98.8% ownership (per The Telegraph) or 99.5% ownership (per the BBC) of EFC Co Ltd.

But as neither indicate either the number of new shares issued or the new total beyond the 135,000 existing… we minority shareholders are none the wiser.

I am on holiday so don't know if I got anything in the post.

There are three resolutions to vote on, not that our votes are relevant in the overall picture.

So I should check my registration at the Shareholder Portal, if I can find it…

The value of my single share must have reduced given that before this it was one of 5.9% of the shareholding and after it will be one of 0.5%.

My holding is not an investment but purely of sentimental value so I personally am not bothered about that. However, the estate of Kenwright must have taken a similar devaluation on their 1.5% holding?

I trawled through the very, very long list of small shareholders on The Esk link in your article, to find my own name.

By chance I happened to spot your name in there too!

It seems that the new owners are showing the same warmth and care for minority shareholders as both “the greatest Evertonian” and the delightful Mr Moshiri.

Going back a step or two, it might be recalled that Peter Johnson valued all shares at around £500 when he took over the club. Not bad for long-term shareholders and it appealed to new small investors.

The narrative changed of course with the “greatest Evertonian” and his fellow “majority shareholders” who bought Johnsn out for an estimated, it's rumoured, around £850 a share – leaving the majority (by number) of shareholders out in the cold.

This charming tale of fellow Evertonians allegedly takes a further twist when it's rumoured they sell their – it's said – share of the club to Moshiri for, it seems, between £6-7,000 a share. This seems to have constituted a profit of many multiples of their “investment” for their brilliant leadership in the post-Johnson era. Some of the same group colluded as Moshiri inflated (diluted) his shareholding to around 95%.

Obviously the majority by number were not included in this bonanza. So much for loyalty and decades of commitment. Somewhat in contrast with events at Arsenal and elsewhere, where buyers took the – some might say reasonable – step of making a general offer to all shareholders.

Sadly, the greatest Evertonian and his friends exploited a serious flaw in our Articles which gave them no more than a moral or decent need to act like ethicists such as those buying Arsenal and pretty well every other properly constituted company.

For most on ToffeeWeb, I guess the response is bad luck but, as the last crews behaved, the new crew are behaving – so expect no more from them than we got from them.

As a shareholder since the pre-Johnson days, it's probably worth remembering that with him, we won things and he treated people decently … despite his past affiliations.

Let's just hope for the best.. perhaps I might raise the issue with the new Football regulator … Arsenal as an example of decent behaviour might appeal to their boss.

Some sanguine perspectives there on the travails of being a minority Everton Shareholder – although I like the twist you put on that: as a group, we still far outnumber the so-called 'majority' shareholders!!!

There's an old page in the Club section on ToffeeWeb that attempts to chronicle the shareholders' story in all its twists and turns – most sadly downward, as you imply. I will endeavour to update it with this latest episode.

Recently, we had that share auction which saw the shares exchanged for £3,400 each. That would put a nominal value of £459M on the club.

Now if we take the first tranche that converted Moshiri's loans to equity in exchange for 150,250 new shares, and we assign a value of £450M to that transaction, the share price reduces to £2,995 but the value of the club jumps to £854M. Not too bad if true...

However, there seems to be little doubt that Roundhouse's 'subscription' for an incredible 1,336,537 new shares represents a massive dilution in the value of individual Everton shares, whichever way you cut it.

The letter states that this "provide[s] further investment into the Club" – so let's just assume that boosts the club book value to a cool £1 Billion (pinkie in mouth!). But even then, the value of each Everton share still plunges to £616.60. (Sorry, Mike Gaynes!)

And let's go back to that recent share price of £3,400: if that were still true, the club book value would be over £5½B – more even than Man Utd? Yeah!

Err… No.

Its effects on The Friedkin Group is negligible, given the controling number of shares they have. Obviously the Premier League in their approval insisted their recent ruling on owner loans conversion was acted on.

I cannot get my head around how shares bought at auction before the takeover could be of less value when sold after the takeover. Is there not a difference between share value and share price?

There no doubt that Moshiri. the Friedkin Group and the Premier League have still to show consideration of small shareholders.

I wonder if there will be an AGM in the New Year? But I would expect that the financial results of the 2023-24 Finncial Year would overshadow such discussion.

Interesting shareholder perspective on Peter Johnson. The fan that jumped on the boot of his Merc has a lot to answer for.

I have always wanted to know who the fan was that kissed the midfield after the Wimbledon match. I now would like to know the on-the-boot fan. Their perspective since would be interesting.

To make it worse, I have been told by the club there will be no shareholder discount at the new stadium.

The majority and minority share dealings really operate in two separate markets. I imagine most minority shareholders have no desire or need to sell in the foreseeable future. I also imagine there are many fans who would like to own a single share.

Given the limited supply and the apparent high demand for single shares, the price will likely settle at whatever level the few people seeking to sell their share are willing to accept. My expectation is that will be substantially higher than a few hundred quid.

If you were a shareholder the day before yesterday, you were entitled to your share of c £660M debt… whereas today, that is reduced to zero (as far as I know).

If your interest in owning Everon shares is financial then, as is always the case, your gain will be capital appreciation over time. If your holding is sentimental and about being part of the club, then the future looks a lot brighter than last week.

Ah, well, I was never gonna sell the share anyway... it'll be up to my wife when she inherits everything. And she won't have the slightest idea what to do with it!!