Everton takeover boost as American group to make last-minute rescue mission for crisis club amid administration fears

5 months ago 38

AN AMERICAN consortium has joined the race to buy Everton.

The Toffees suffered another blow in their bid to avoid going into administration last week as US investors The Friedkin Group’s proposed takeover collapsed.

Kevin Malone is leading a group keen on buying Everton[/caption]

They had a period of exclusivity for talks with current owner Farhad Moshiri over an £800m deal.

But The Friedkin Group, who also own Roma, pulled out on Thursday due to concerns about the crisis club’s debt to 777 Partners.

They had pumped in £200m to keep the club afloat – but failed in an attempt to buy Everton in June as the Premier League refused to ratify the deal.

777 Partners did not receive approval as chiefs were worried they did not have the cash to meet their obligations after backers cut ties with them and the company was hit with legal issues in the US and Europe.

But a new consortium from across the pond now want to buy Everton.

They are led by former LA Dodgers general manager Kevin Malone.

And the group will reportedly make an offer to Moshiri in the coming weeks after seeing initial interest knocked back due to The Friedkin Group’s exclusivity agreement.

Malone’s consortium will be rivalled by British investment firm Vici Private Finance.

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SunSport understands they are confident of completing a takeover in a matter of weeks.

Vici Private Finance are being advised by former Everton director Keith Harris.

Local businessmen and Toffees fans Andy Bell and George Downing could also return to the negotiating table.

The mega-rich duo are open to waiving the millions owed to them after helping to fund the build of their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium in exchange for a stake in the club.

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace part-owner John Textor is unlikely to make another bid for Everton.

Yet any buyer will need to appease Moshiri, who wants £25m up front plus £2.5m for TEN YEARS to walk away from the Merseyside team.

SunSport exclusively revealed that he sees the £50m pay-off as part of any deal to sell.

WHAT IS FFP?

SunSport's Martin Lipton breaks down what it is all about...

FFP – or Financial Fair Play – is a concept originally introduced by Uefa in 2009, officially to prevent clubs from spending money they could not afford.

Yet many critics have rounded on the system, accusing it of being a protective instrument, drafted by the so-called “legacy clubs” to prevent insurgent and wealthier clubs from buying their way onto the top table.

The Premier League introduced its own FFP regulations which came into effect for the 2013-14 season and which, while less stringent than Uefa regulations, they do impact on club spending.

Under the current Prem “Profitability and Sustainability” regulations, clubs who are constant members of the top flight for a three-year period are allowed total losses of £105m over those three campaigns.

But it is not as simple as totting up outlay and income.

The biggest outlay, of course, is transfer fees. The 20 Prem clubs spent a total of around £2.4bn in last summer’s transfer window.

Yet that does not mean they “spent” that money as far as the Prem rules are concerned.

Transfer fees are “amortised” over the length of the contract, so, for example, a £100m fee for a player who signs a five-year deal is amortised at a cost of £20m per season for each of those five campaigns.

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