Everton have suffered a massive blow today (19 July) after the club confirmed that the Friedkin group has ended their interest in buying the club.
After considering so many options, Farhad Moshiri decided to grant a period of exclusivity last month to the Friedkin group who are also the owners of AS Roma.
The Friedkin Group has already invested £200 million in the club and was hoping to complete the takeover before the start of the new Premier League season.
Dan Friedkin has paid off an outstanding £158 million debt to MSP Capital and provided the club with £40 million in working capital to cover running costs and finance the ongoing new stadium project, and it looked promising that they would complete the ownership.
However, they withdrew from negotiations yesterday (18 July) due to concerns about debt to previous potential buyers 777 Group.
Paul Joyce wrote on X that the American business owners did not proceed with the move because of legal issues and risk as Evertion owe £200 million to 777 Partners.
“Friedkin Group say the £200m Everton owe to 777 Partners/A Cap was a stumbling block due to legal issues and risk,” wrote Joyce.
TFG has been in exclusive talks for the past four weeks, and the news will come as a killer blow to the Toffees, who are now in a deep financial mess.
The club now owe more than £600m to three external lenders — A-Cap/777, Cheshire-based Rights and Media Funding and TFG — as well as £450 million in shareholder loans to current owner Farhad Moshiri.
When Moshiri ended all discussions with 777 Group, several candidates wanted to buy the club, and hopefully, talks with them will resume again.
According to a report from The Athletic, the 777 is now in the hands of insolvency experts following months of lawsuits over unpaid bills, late payments and allegations of fraud, and that’s why Friedkin groups felt that paying money to them could be risky.
