Friedkin Group takeover of Everton collapses

When will this fucking circus ever end???

I wonder where this leaves us now. Will the other parties now be back in for us?

And goodnight, Everton Football Club.

Everton back in crisis as Friedkin Group’s proposed takeover off

"The Friedkin Group (TFG) has been in exclusive talks with Everton for the last four weeks but withdrew from negotiations on Thursday, citing concerns about the club's debt to 777, a private investment firm based in Miami.

That £200million ($258m) debt, which is comprised of a series of loans 777 made to Everton last season, is now controlled by American insurance firm A-Cap, the original source of that money.

TFG's concerns about the debt are related to the fact that 777 is now in the hands of insolvency experts after its complex web of portfolio companies started to unravel earlier this year, following months of lawsuits over unpaid bills, late payments and allegations of fraud."

No wonder Moshiri was/is desperate for 777 Partners to take over as they are just as dodgy as he is. Tony Soprano could learn a few things from him.

What a shit storm this is going to be.

At a guess, A-CAP want a significantly higher interest rate or early repayment fee for being paid off before terms?

Also, fans giving Calvert-Lewin stick for not signing a new contract… Would you tie your future to this mess of a club???

It must be much more of a mess than even the most negative of us thought it might be. It’s either that or Morshiri wanted more out of the deal and they wouldn’t pay!

Oh well, now we can return to fretting about the new kit and travel plans to Sligo.

We are utterly fucked by the 777 situation.

Administration surely a near certainty now?

Who purchased Everton, you or the Russian billionaire? "Don't call us, well call you."

It is alarming that a decent owner who wanted to buy us is now off.

777 Partner are the fly in the ointment I suspect. That and potential links to Usmanov.

Dan Friedkin is a shrewd businessman, and he clearly doesn't want to get involved in any of the above. Quite frankly, who can blame him?

There was no way Moshiri was going to take the whole hit; he wants the funders and the buyer to share some of the pain.

It's 1892 all over again.

Moshiri is between a rock and a hard place. The Russian mob on one side and the Miami mafia on the other.

Sleep well with the fishes, Farhad.

It could be a very expensive legal mistake.

Who would buy the club now?

If Friedkin couldn't make it work, who the heck can???

Either that or we get into bed with another set of dodgy characters. The future's not bright, it's shite!

Best case scenario (and I tend to look at things optimistically) is that they will come back to the table as and when the obstruction is removed or reduced.

Might be hardball negotiation?

Bloke on BBC radio made a good point, the club will be worth a lot less if in the hands of administrators. So I can’t blame a potential purchaser wanting a discount on the deal from Moshiri.

Reminds me of a spaghetti western, so still waiting for ‘the man with no name’ to turn up. In the meantime, we need some cash to pay the millionaires on the pitch.

What seems to be a credible, reliable buyer comes along, looks at our books and decides to walk away.

Who else is going to come in and rescue us from the ever-growing and ever-more complicated mire of debt? If the Friedkin Group won't do it, why would anybody else other than the chancers and vultures who constantly circle ailing football clubs looking to make a quick buck?

This all stemmed from having an owner who had no idea how to run a business getting in bed with very dubious characters. No prizes for guessing who I am referring to.

Administration beckoning?

Well done, Blue Bill, and thanks for nothing.

Got that off my chest anyway.

Now, where's the Onana money?

All the hope of a fresh start at a new stadium with a new owner is over.

It's the hope that kills you.

A period of exclusivity does not appear to be something of benefit to Everton.

There should probably be a recognised period of transparency!

See you, young Branthwaite…

But let’s remember that Friedkin were not the only consortium interested in buying the club. There were several.

They lent the club £200m during their attempted takeover and the issue was not paying that off but the serious legal action they are mired in in the US.

Friedkin Group did not know how long this would last for and there would be too much risk involved in continuing, so, instead of waiting a number of months for those issues to be resolved, they have decided to walk away.

What a mess…

It's the only way out.

I doubt they have the money to satisfy the Russian and American loan sharks.

They'll simply load the club with increasing amounts of debt with high interest rates. That will not benefit anyone.

Friedkin wanted Everton because of the new stadium. I think there are some terms in those 777 loans linking the stadium as security and they would survive the stadium purchase as a type of charge security that continues whilst the stadium increases in value.

I also don't get why Moshiri would pump his fortune into Everton and the stadium and walk away with Bramley-Moore Dock seaweed.

It makes sense that Moshiri is still tied to Everton until he gets his performance bonuses.

I don't think Friedkin would walk away because of the relationship with 777 Partners. It makes sense why Friedkin could pay off MSP etc but not 777 Partners.

All of this must have been pretty evident to them before they made a bid and entered the exclusivity agreement?

Any profit from the Onana sale will go into that rather than reinvesting in players.

“The view that will be taken by most of the investors and lenders – to date Everton is worth more as a going concern than a club that potentially goes into administration as they will lose any influence that they have over the operation of the club.

"We will see perhaps some additional commitment from the lenders because they fear the alternative is they could lose out substantially if the club does go into administration, which is the worst-case scenario.”

They had looked really positive as a new owner.

Back up Shit Creek.

Then ask MSP to come in with them and buy the club, turning their loan into shares???

For fuck's sake…

Perhaps 777 aren't in a position to negotiate anything with ongoing litigation and stretched finances. Who knows.

Complete shit show.

To slightly misquote Chris Rea: 'This ain't no Track.... This is the Road to Hell'!!

They could have transferred their loan to equity when the repayment period expired and taken control of the club. They decided to wait.

I never thought Friedkin was wealthy enough to grow the club anyway.

If Friedkin didn’t fancy it, there must be some serious downside in the dog's breakfast that are our accounts.

Moshiri is a complete plant pot. It seems likely now Everton will be bought by an MSP or A-Cap for structuring debt, for investment not for a genuine takeover. Then later sold after making £millions. Maybe that's why Textor walked away. He guessed what was under the bonnet.

That Spanish supporter who posted online a brilliant analysis of Everton's options. MSP loan has now been paid off so MSP are now debted to Friedkin to the tune of £200M (Gav, Blue Echo), or like for like.

It feels like we are back to square one. For fuck's sake…

Complete fucking shit show as usual.

Ban me if you want moderators, you'll probably be doing me a favour. I'm so exhausted wanting something good to happen for this club of ours.

Long, long-suffering blue.

The Keystone Cops!!

Complete twats.

They lent the club £200M during their attempted takeover and the issue was not paying that off but the serious legal action they are mired in in the US.

Friedkin Group did not know how long this would last for and there would be too much risk involved in continuing, so, instead of waiting a number of months for those issues to be resolved, they have decided to walk away.

Seriously could someone explain who Blue Heaven Holdings are ?

MSP are no longer a lender to Everton as The Friedkin Group (TFG) repaid their loan. MSP do not owe TGF a cent; it is Everton who owe TGF £200 million which is secured on the new stadium.

A-Cap are teetering on the brink due to their exposure to 777 debt; 777 loans to Everton are unsecured - it holds no security on the stadium. They won’t be taking us or anyone else over.

However, TGF wants the 777 and / or A-Cap and / or their creditors to take a significant haircut on their loans to Everton. Given that 777 and A-Cap are embroiled in legal case with those creditors it will take months to negotiate a deal with them.

Athletic states that Including TGF new loan, Everton owe more than £600m to three external lenders — A-Cap/777, Cheshire-based Rights and Media Funding and TFG — as well as £450m in shareholder loans to current owner Farhad Moshiri.

Expect more twists and turns. Stay tuned folks!!

I don't believe the existing loans situation is the real reason. Expecting the creditors to fold and submit or be dictated to seems a very unlikely strategy on which to pivot the whole deal.

Billy from Beyond has joined the party.

777 may be embroiled in a mire of legal and insolvency claims, including fraud, but so what? If we had to pay a premium it's the cost of business unless it's a ridiculously agreed amount and Moshiri won't pay or expects the buyer to..God sake, who knows.. but so much for the junior debt scenario, everyone wants to make a killing but noone trusts anyone.. big money, a game of chicken being played with our club..
Shysters, loan sharks using pension funds, the Mozart with money, Russian money and undue influence.. the seeds for all of this were planted by one man, then passed to The Incompetent one.
I for one would like to hear the foundations to the pullout, the risk actual, the showstopper. For it will lay open exactly what and who has done what to our club.

Instead of a steady managed growth of the team and the squad over a number of years he tried to get there in the first 12 months. Absolute tool of an ac**tant,(no I haven't misspelt that).

We're going into Administration I'd bet. I can't see how we can viably continue without a takeover and new injection of capital.

Just yesterday I never in a million years thought Friedkin would walk! Something came up in due diligence that's black as night I'd bet, and he was like, "Ya, fuck this."

We are, if we weren't already, officially a mess.

Hard headed businessmen see an opportunity but note forest gump and uncle ali are mindless buffoons and crooks and squeeze the life out of them by threatening to walk.

Would expect nothing less from what more informed parties have posted.

To mangle Arnies quote "they'll be back"

I meant the creditor MSP is now Friedkin..

"MSP or A-Cap for structuring debt", I meant an MSP type, not MSP itself.

Moshiri in any event in effect has successfully got 777 then followed by Friedkin to pay to keep the lights on and millions for the stadium, without touching his own money. Is he a genius in terms of knowing 777 was cracking at the seams, and knowing Friedkin wouldn't pay off 777. Did Moshiri call Friedkin's bluff, knowing or anticipating Friedkin would end due diligence because Moshiri or 777 wouldn't take a hair cut?

Friedkin knows if he pays off 777 he'll be helping them fuck more people? He realizes he has to wait for them to go under, otherwise he's replenishing their coffers by $200 million and allowing them to wriggle their way out of the mess they are in?

If that's the case, Friedkin is waiting for 777 to file bankruptcy, clearing the money Everton owe to them in repayment, and then getting back in the game?

Or... is it possible that those on the list owed money by 777 can, if 777 goes under, sue Everton then for their losses, as the 777 $200 million passed to Everton?

I dunno. This is a trainwreck disaster.

It seemed Asscap wanted to distance themselves from 666 house of cards. Asscap may not be able to withstand loss of any support. Friedkin backing away could be interpreted as testing their resolve while they consider their legal exposure. It could increase the uncertainty around Asscap's valuation and significantly raise their financial and legal costs.

Asscap perhaps thought they possessed a pressure point and will discover they are out of their league. Usual disclaimer: I know fuck all.

I was personally very vocal (on here) about Moshiri at the time, and so it has come to pass. I hate to say told you so, and this is the first time I've mentioned it. I was one of the few who said when he took over, "be careful what you wish for". And here we are.

Royally up shit creek.

Honestly, I absolutely do hate to say I told you so..

Everton appears to be untouchable now - and am I the only one who thinks that perhaps people in the business world are now quite likely to want to have very little to do with Moshiri?

Barge poles at the ready.

The £50m Onana money is now unlikely to go to new players as I’d imagine some of this will go to running costs and the stadium in the short term. The next lot of sky money was recently paid I think, or is near to being paid, so this hopefully moves the cliff edge back further.

This club really puts you through the wringer. Including Moshiris shareholder loans to the club has about £1bn in debt, which is probably the value of the stadium when finished. We still have some valuable players and are in the Premiership so administration should not be something to worry about.

Deep breath and wait for updates. Not exactly a great mental start for the players with the first game only about 3 weeks away.

My math says we need about a half million people at a thousand pounds per person to get to £500M. There's got to be enough people worldwide to get in on that.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we haven’t heard the last of The Friedkin Group.

Alan Myers says the club remains well funded in the short term, so let’s see how it plays out? It wouldn’t be Everton if it wasn’t agonising.

The secured/unsecured status only comes into effect if Everton file for bankruptcy protection. A-CAP would be way down the list of creditors that receive any monies from the sale of our assets.

If they are truly concerned that Friedkin walking away may now lead to Everton going bankrupt, then they may relinquish the debt for “cents on the dollar”.

This may be Friedkin's thinking. Sit on the sidelines, and then pick up the pieces for a much lower cost down the road. Hence the debt swap on our main asset of the new stadium.

BBC Sport understands the major stumbling block has been a situation involving previous prospective buyer 777 Partners, whose proposed takeover plan had been backed by funding from financial insurers A-Cap.

777 Partners loaned Everton £200M during their attempt to take over and the issue was not paying that off, but the legal action that 777 Partners face in the US.

Friedkin Group did not know how long this would last for, was unclear about who was in charge of the loan, and was wary of any potential risk, so it decided to walk away rather than wait for the issues to be resolved.

The Friedkin Group, which injected £200M into the club and paid off a £158M loan to MSP Sports Capital and two local businessmen, will "remain a lender to the club", they said in a joint statement on Friday.

It is understood the loan from the Friedkin Group is a 'stable' one which means the group is not looking to call it in immediately and club sources have said Everton as a business is "absolutely not in a precarious position".

It isn't simply down to lack of backing or poor business acumen. If Usmanov had been free to splurge his money, we probably could've spent our way to the top of the Premier League.

Let's not completely discount the impact of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Premier League getting puritanical on Profitability and Sustainability to ward off government intervention.

And how can we secure the final £70M to complete the stadium?

The 2 AJ Bell guys or Saudi (anywhere), but please no more Miami!

They say third time is a charm. I just hope Andy Bell and George Downing should takeover. Moshiri should be kicked on his ass after that happens.

Didn't this group do the same before buying AS Roma? Mexican standoff. Game of chess. You decide…

There's not a scenario where we would owe 777 nothing if they go bankrupt because basically we were the last group to get any money out of them after they let Flair and Bonza go to the wall and stiffed ACAP. Courts can claw back money paid to "preferential" creditors or disbursed to others in the months leading up to insolvency. 777 clearly prioritized paying us that money over honoring other existing debts. Which means the court will expect that we repay those funds in full so they can be evenly distributed to other creditors based on the hierarchy of who has higher claims on their money. And that is just the bankruptcy route assuming there is no criminal aspect to it all which there appears to be.

The focus is presumably on remaining a going concern - with squad building somewhat down the list of priorities.

Friedkin could come back. I believe they walked away from Roma, but went back. They could be pushing for a better deal for themselves. I guess that's business.

Or, other parties are waiting in the wings. I know I might get laughed at, but Everton is an attractive proposition. Fanbase, Stadium, City of Liverpool.

Otherwise, Moshiri is going to have to look behind the couch on his Yacht.

So, with the Friedkin Group now unable to come to an agreement with Moshiri, the responsibility is in his hands in what he is willing to take for his shares. Plus as majority owner, he is responsible for debts created since he became majority owner.

So what we have ended up with is a billionaire that our previous chairman was looking for, who has turned out to be more incompetent than himself.

The only thing that we can hope for now is there really are other groups that wish to buy, but there is something wrong at Everton FC that groups find after making offers, which tuns them off.

Friedkin really wanted the club. £200M isn't a token investment. This may not be over -- he also walked away from the Roma negotiations at one point, and Roma was a far less complicated situation.

Moshiri's financial mess is the football version of the Crowdstrike disaster. He's a walking Blue Screen of Death.

I think Mark @ 114, could have something saying that Mosiri may want to retain a percentage of the club, Usmanov might want to come back in at a later date.
All guesswork, but that is the all we have.

Meanwhile more debts are adding up.

Considering, once the stadium is finished in 3 months, his investment will increase.

That gives you c £70m of costs in debt servicing and it might be as high as £90m. Deloitte's (in my view, very optimistic) assessment of the incremental revenue from the stadium is £55m. My conclusion is the stadium is not worth close to £1bn that some people quote, unless there is some upside not yet specified. At best around £500-600m.

The club as a whole appears to have around £1.1-£1.2bn of total debt. Despite some on here suggesting fanciful valuations seen through American investors eyes, I suggest the shares are worthless, and even that level of debt won't be sustainable. Relegation would of course end the argument for good.

Presumably this is what Friedkin sees. There have to be haircuts all round to make it stack up, and I don't mean a light trim. Someone further up suggested Friedkin put in a £200m extra on top of buying out MSP. I hope not because our debt then is even higher. Right now, whatever the club says, I cannot see how the year's accounts could be signed off on the basis of the club being a going concern.