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Everton may join elite ownership group with Man United after takeover, deal ‘very near’
Following two failed attempts from 777 Partners and Dan Friedkin, several parties have been given a reprieve in their bids to take over Everton.
The groups linked with the club will, of course, be faced with the same issues that led Friedkin to pull the plug on his efforts to buy Everton.
Everton have total debt of over £600m. And one of their lenders, 777 Partners, are currently the subject of a fraud lawsuit from London-based group Leadenhall, which complicates matters.
However, a number of institutions, individuals and consortiums still appear to believe that they can jump these hurdles and make a success out of Everton.
A dozen or so groups have been linked – with varying degrees of credibility – to an Everton takeover in recent months.
Some of these have demonstrable pedigree in the business of football, whereas others are looking to make Everton their first investment in the sport.
In recent days, the Farhad Moshiri regime appear to be briefing that multi-club investor and Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor is a serious contender to buy Everton.
Given his involvement with Palace, it would be a complicated process which would first require him to divest his interest in the Selhurst Park club.
However, the 58-year-old must be relatively confident that an agreement can be reached.
If it is, Textor’s wider ambitions in football could see Everton become the latest members of a very exclusive faction in ownership circles.
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Could Everton join Man United as publicly traded club?
Textor’s Eagle Football Group owns a 45 per cent stake in Crystal Palace, as well as controlling stakes in Lyon, RWD Molenbeek, FC Florida and Botafogo.
Textor had been keen to take full control of Palace but, as he has been unable to get a deal over the line, has publicly announced his intention to sell his equity in the club.
Last year, reports surfaced that Textor wanted to float Eagle Football Group on the New York Stock Exchange and raise nearly £200m for an initial public offering (IPO).
Now, in an interview with about his Brazilian club Botafogo, Textor has revealed that this development is now on the near horizon.
“There are rules about gun-jumping. You aren’t supposed to advertise that you are doing an IPO,” he said.
“The way you do an IPO is you file a registration statement, which is everything about your business – incredible detail, incredible transparency.
“It will be great for people who want to know everything about my business.
“I have always said ‘we are a private company and we don’t owe you anything’. But at this point, you will have the answers within four days of every material event.
“We are now filing that document. We are filing that document in the very near term – in the next few weeks.
“It could be New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. We are filing it with the SEC; you decide which stock exchange you go on later.
“It will help Botafogo. If it is successful, it will strengthen our capital base and reduce our debt. The debt we took on when we bought Lyon, for example.”
If Everton become part of the Eagle Football Group and the group is later listed on the NYSE, they would effectively join Man United as the only publicly traded clubs in England.
There is a distinction in that it would be Eagle Football Group rather than Everton themselves, but the same disclosure rules would apply.
Elsewhere, Celtic are listed on the London Stock Exchange, while the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Juventus are also traded on different markets.
Are John Textor’s Everton takeover ambitions realistic?
As several analysts have observed, John Textor has borrowed money to set up his football empire and appears to be asset rich but not necessarily cash rich.
Whether Everton, who must pay of several hundred million pounds worth of debt in the coming years, can rely on a low liquidity individual to repay these loans is up for debate.
That is before one considers the complications with Textor and Crystal Palace.
There is a limited pool of investors who are willing to shell out a nine-figure sum for a minority stake of a Premier League club.
There are a lot of hoops to jump through before Textor could even be named preferred bidder by Moshiri, then it would likely take months to finalise a deal.
And with Everton likely to face cash flow issues before the turn of the year if a takeover is not completed, Textor’s campaign to buy the club certainly seems fraught with difficulty.