Inside the Everton takeover as Friedkin Group play hand perfectly

A look at how the proposed takeover of the Toffees has played out

Ryan Friedkin and Dan Friedkin are pressing on with plans to purchase Everton (Getty Images)

There have been plenty of false dawns at Everton. There is very real hope that this won’t be one of them.

Earlier this month saw the one-year anniversary of Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri agreeing to sell his 94.1% majority stake in the beleaguered Premier League side to controversial Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners.

Thankfully, given the issues that 777 currently find themselves facing through various legal cases, most prominently that of a civil suit being heard in a New York court in relation to allegations of ‘fraudulent’ behaviour to access $350m worth of funding from London firm Leadenhall Capital Partners, the 777 deal fell by the wayside, but not before the Premier League kicked the can down the road repeatedly.

In the end, the Premier League, who had been ‘minded’ to grant conditional approval to the firm provided they met several conditions, with the biggest stumbling block being proving the funds were there to complete. That never happened and the 777 deal was no more. Given what has transpired since, with investment bank Moelis engaged to assess the sale of the multiple football assets, it was most definitely for the best.

On Monday confirmation arrived that US billionaire Dan Friedkin had agreed to purchase the shareholding from Moshiri, held via the Everton owner’s Blue Heaven Holdings Limited, with The Friedkin Group having reached an agreement with 777 lender A-CAP that gave them what they felt were more assurances over the Leadenhall case, given that £200m-plus of 777 debt, much of it provided by A-CAP continues to sit on the Everton balance sheet due to the firm’s regular provision of working capital during its failed takeover bid.

But did the Friedkin Group ever really go away? What is the motivation behind acquiring a club in such a distressed state? What happens to all that debt? Why is Moshiri accepting less for his equity than others were offering?

Well, let’s take a look.