*Shakes head* Everton again.

[Chocoholic]

As bad as Everton are, it seems 777 need them more than they need 777.

 

 

https://josimarfootball.com/2024/02/16/everton-or-bust/

 

 

Features  16 February, 2024

 

 

A new document reveals who exactly is behind attempts by 777 Partners to acquire Everton, and just how badly the Miami investment firm needs Premier League approval for the deal.

By Paul Brown and Philippe Auclair

 

The clock is ticking for 777 Partners when it comes to their attempted acquisition of Everton. The process has now dragged on into a fifth month and the American investors are still awaiting Premier League approval.

A new document seen by Josimar sheds light on why the Miami investment firm is so eager to persist with the purchase. The document suggests that 777 need Everton even more than the club needs them.

 

It also outlines the strategy behind the attempted takeover and reveals key details of the deal. And yet, it was not put together by 777 themselves but by A-CAP, a New York “risk solution and service provider” operating a network of insurance companies.

 

A-CAP is run by chairman and CEO Kenneth King, who is alleged of being part of a “complex and massive fraud” in an ongoing civil lawsuit in the USA, and has sat in on meetings of the 777 steering committee.

 

King’s insurance companies have for months been propping up 777, with internal sources claiming it is facing a liquidity crisis. Those insurance companies are currently under investigation by US regulators for suspected breaches of financial rules.

 

The full extent of A-CAP’s involvement in Everton, and how this may impact both the fragile finances of the club and the likelihood of Premier League approval for the takeover, is made clear in this document.

 

Dated 31 August 2023, two weeks before 777’s agreement to purchase Everton was made public, the 44-page A-CAP “Investment Overview” gives the specific details of the deal to buy the Merseyside club, including confirmation that the ultimate source of the first 40 million pound- loan made by 777 to Everton was A-CAP, with the club paying an interest rate of 12.75 percent.

 

777’s loans to the club, made to cover working capital and ongoing stadium costs, have since ballooned to almost 200 million pounds, loading more debt onto an already debt-ridden club. Josimar has been told that it is A-CAP which is continuing to provide this money.

 

It is a bold commitment, given how little security the borrower is able to bring to the table. The document confirms, for instance, that A-CAP’s money is secured by “entering the current Senior Lending Facility in a last out position.” The senior lender here is Rights and Media Funding, which has a charge over all of Everton’s assets, including its bank accounts. It also suggests that 777, and therefore ACAP and its insurance policyholders, are last in line for repayment.

 

The document also claims that A-CAP capital “will initially be used to bolster the Everton roster via activity in the transfer market”. Yet Everton’s only activity in the January window was the loan of Mason Holgate to Sheffield United. In return for its investment, A-CAP “will receive a 2.5 percent warrant” in the 777 Football Group, in other words the right to own equity in that entity. The document goes on to say that 777 “will sell a minority interest” in its Football Group in order to repay a portion of this loan from A-CAP. 

 

The document explains that A-CAP’s “support” of the Everton acquisition will “materially increase” the overall value of the 777 Football Group’s multi-club portfolio, and allow it to “raise capital […] and sell equity, creating liquidity.” It estimates that owning Everton would justify a higher overall enterprise value for all 777’s clubs, generating at least 3.2 times more revenue for the group. This, it is hoped, would attract new investors and “increase the execution certainty” of an attempt to raise capital on their behalf by broker Tifosy, which has so far proved unsuccessful.The document says they expected “the floor” for a “debt raise including Everton” to be 300m euros. 

 

It is unlikely that this money would be used for new signings as billed, as the document also states that the 777 Football Group “is expected to have 240-300 million euro of working capital needed to reach stabilization across all clubs.” This is the paradox at the heart of the matter: Everton are in such need of working capital that they require regular loans from an entity which is in dire need of working capital itself. One projection made in the document, estimates that even then, the 777 Football Group “will need to sell equity between 30-50% to cover financing needs.” 

 

777 Partners appears to be facing a huge squeeze on its finances. They have failed to make payroll more than once in recent months and have discussed pursuing a large headcount reduction plan in order to cut costs. Key staff have left the company without being replaced. They are facing multiple debt recovery lawsuits, and their reinsurance business was downgraded by a credit ratings agency. Some of its subsidiary companies have been forced to borrow money at rates of interest as high as 52 percent. In addition, two major sources of current funding are under threat. In Bermuda, the monetary authority has already placed 777re, the reinsurance business where much of the group’s assets are held, into administrative control pending an investigation into suspected breaches of financial rules. A similar investigation into A-CAP and it’s insurance companies could result in the same action, or worse, as the authorities there have the power to revoke the licences of those companies. 

 

Everton is not just the biggest sporting investment 777 have ever attempted, it is also crucial for the long-term survival of the firm itself. 

 

Everton already has other lenders to repay. US investment group MSP, who were initially Moshiri’s preferred choice to buy the club, have 137 million pounds invested into the Everton Stadium Development company. This money must be paid off if there is a change of ownership. The A-CAP document states that it will indeed be repaid, and converted into equity by 777, but that any such repayment is “contingent” on an outside capital raise. It is unclear what would happen therefore, if that capital raise were to be unsuccessful. As for the stadium itself, the document claims that “significant enterprise value/collateral value” can be “unlocked” via the Stadium Company once the build is completed, suggesting 777 and A-CAP intend to use Bramley Moore Dock to raise yet more finance. In the risk section of the document, there is also an entry stating that if the Stadium Company “cannot obtain third-party capital” to complete the build, “A-CAP can underwrite the construction and syndicate a loan.” 

Premier League is still conducting their Owners and Directors Test into 777, and given the amount of time this process has already taken, it is safe to assume that CEO Richard Masters has yet to receive the “satisfactory answers” he alluded to before a Parliamentary committee last month. Josimar understands that on Thursday of this week the league submitted a fresh set of questions into 777’s ability to fund its purchase of Everton, to both the Miami firm and club owner Moshiri.

 

Josimar has been told by more than one source close to the process that the league will not allow any takeover of the club which saddles it with even more debt. And we understand there is a rival bidder preparing an offer which would avoid doing this altogether. 

 

[This links to a paywalled article, the first few paragraphs visible are included below]

 

“I too have my doubts about 777”

With no deadline for a decision, and no actual decision yet in sight, the importance of adding Everton to 777’s portfolio is also highlighted by the efforts the US group is making to keep its more problematic assets afloat. The rationale behind this is simple. Should one of their clubs face bankruptcy, any hope of convincing the Premier League that the group has the financial means to steady the Liverpool club and ensure its longer-term future would be dealt a fatal blow.

 

Of these clubs, the one facing the clearest and most present danger is Standard de Liège, of whom sports economist Wim Lagae said in a recent interview with Nieuwsblad that “all [their] indicators were red” and that their financial situation was “the worst in the Jupiler League, together with Oostende”. Standard, who’ve been regularly late in paying their staff and were issued two transfer bans by the Belgian regulator in 2023 for failing to honour their commitments, have to find the means to pacify creditors who are due close to 40 million euros within the current tax year. 777 is also committed to paying the multi-million second tranche of what they owe previous owner Bruno Venanzi before the end of April. Sources have confirmed to Josimar, should they fail to pay Venanzi, the ownership of Standard would automatically revert to the Belgian businessman.

 

The fragility of the finances of Standard (who were also fined 30,000 euro by the Belgian regulator on Valentine’s Day for not filing their accounts on time) is also illustrated by a bizarre twist of events which neither the club nor its CEO Pierre Locht have denied when contacted by Josimar. The club was meant to reimburse a 3 million euro loan taken from its former star player Marouane Fellaini in April 2023, but exercised the option to push back the date of the payment by one year. Meanwhile, Standard – who did not spend a cent in the January transfer market, to the dismay of their fans – offered a 3-year professional contract to 19-year-old French striker Maxime Mejjati-Alami, despite the fact that he hadn’t played a single game for Standard’s reserves when on loan from FC Nantes. Maxime happens to be the son of Fellaini’s agent Karim Mejjati. It has been suggested to Josimar by two separate Belgian sources that this deal was a ‘sweetener’ intended to placate Mejjati senior and, by association, Fellaini himself. We asked the club whether they could confirm this, and whether or not this constituted a conflict of interest, but have so far received no response.

Standard CEO Pierre Locht interviewed on RTBF’s ‘La Tribune’ programme, 5 February 2024.

 

Standard’s CEO Pierre Locht added to the uncertainty surrounding his club when he was invited to take part in “La Tribune”, a discussion programme broadcast by Belgian state network RTBF on 5 February. Asked about the questions about 777 Partners raised by the reporting of media such as Josimar, Locht replied: “People have doubts about 777, and, sometimes, I have mine too. But I’m not here to be the advocate of 777, I cannot endorse everything”. Mr Locht did not elaborate on what these doubts could be when asked by Josimar.

 

Locht recently told a group of Standard fans that 777 would plough in another 15 million euros into the club via a share issue which can then be accounted against the club’s losses – the “accordion trick” which they’ve used several times before to support the club. But, as one source put it to Josimar, this was not the only or, indeed, the main motivation behind this new investment. According to the source: “777 is putting money into Standard in order not to jeopardise the purchase of Everton”.  

 

“One of the concerns about 777 is that, if they do acquire Everton FC”, adds football finance analyst and author of The Price Of Football Kieran Maguire, “there could be some more headroom, in the sense that the stadium could be of greater value than the existing borrowings, and that, therefore, 777 could use it as a vehicle to, in effect, take a 100 percent mortgage by topping up those borrowings and more. Therefore, there is a case for saying that 777 need Everton as part of their expansion policy. In terms of the existing clubs they’ve acquired, they have not been successful. The Premier League is the most moneyed league in the world in terms of revenue generation, although converting these revenues into profit has proved elusive for Farhad Moshiri. Given Josh Wander’s track record with his other clubs, it could prove elusive for him as well. So 777 aren’t the golden bullet as far as Everton fans are concerned, in terms of turning around the club’s finances off the pitch, and bringing success on it”.

 

 

Paywalled article

 

 

https://josimarfootball.com/2024/01/09/the-twilight-zone/

 

 

Features  9 January, 2024

 

The twilight zone

It may be January sales season but for Everton the only question is who’s buying. 777 Partners agreed a deal to purchase owner Farhad Moshiri’s majority shareholding back in September, but three months on, they are still awaiting Premier League approval to complete a takeover.

 

By Philippe Auclair and Paul Brown

 

In public, the Miami-based company remains confident and has even been telling people on Merseyside that approval will be granted next week. In private, however, sources inside the company are more pessimistic about the chances of this deal getting done – and they are not the only ones who expect it to fail.

 

Josimar understands that at least one other consortium of US-based investors is now readying a bid, in the expectation that 777 do not complete their takeover. This group has been put together by a prominent sporting figure with a strong knowledge of Everton, and includes investors with a successful background in finance and a deep interest in sport.

 

The levels of debt at the club and the team’s on-field prospects this season, following a ten-point penalty from the Premier League over a financial rule breach, are a cause for concern; but the group remains interested in launching a full takeover of the Goodison Park club, as a source close to the bid confirmed to Josimar: “there are concerns about the level of debt and the team’s on-pitch performance. But these are serious investors.”

 

Josimar also understands that another group of US investors who share the belief that 777's bid is doomed to failure were also in the process of putting together an offer for Everton just before Christmas. This group, which is a...

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

[Anubis]

9 minutes ago, Chocoholic said:

in the sense that the stadium could be of greater value than the existing borrowings, and that, therefore, 777 could use it as a vehicle to, in effect, take a 100 percent mortgage by topping up those borrowings and more.

 

Sounds like a plan.

[Lee909]

Looks like the Premier League are just trying to wait it out and hope 777 goes busts before they give any green light to a takeover. 

 

So they owe 777 200ml now and its at 12% and they owe MSP another 137ml. They really are a fucking mess. 

Who decided the stadium was a great idea

[littletedwest]

Everton fans were all in favour of leveraged buyouts and dubious American owners around 2010. 

[sir roger]

Don't like the sound of these new serious US investors. We need them gone.

[Fugitive]

38 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

 

Who decided the stadium was a great idea

[Barrington Womble]

34 minutes ago, sir roger said:

Don't like the sound of these new serious US investors. We need them gone.

Even with new investors, they're 1bn in debt. They're fucked no matter what unless they can attract a sports washing sovereign fund. And if that was likely, you'd have thought it would happen before now. The only way I see them getting out of this is administration. 

 

Edit... And if this appeal is upheld and the next punishment comes along, maybe going into administration now, clearing some debt but taking all the points deductions in one season is their best way to survive. Even this close to the end of the stadium build it's hard to see how it gets finished or if it does get finished, they actually own it. 

[Anubis]

4 hours ago, Lee909 said:

Looks like the Premier League are just trying to wait it out and hope 777 goes busts before they give any green light to a takeover. 

 

So they owe 777 200ml now and its at 12% and they owe MSP another 137ml. They really are a fucking mess. 

Who decided the stadium was a great idea

And another £200m to that shady offshore loan company.

[Anubis]

The anticipation is killing me already.

 

[DalyanPete]

Judge in the Trump fraud case when asked about the shite.

 

"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological," Judge Engoron wrote in an at times scathing 92-page decision

[Bobby Hundreds]

They'll be saved just in time by some cunts, just like Dyche stepped in at the right time. They are a turd made of cork and by hook or crook.. usually cheating they find a way. Thats the Everton universe.

[joeyk]

1 hour ago, DalyanPete said:

Judge in the Trump fraud case when asked about the shite.

 

"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological," Judge Engoron wrote in an at times scathing 92-page decision

You sure there wasn't 3 more pages? 

[VladimirIlyich]

8 hours ago, Fugitive said:

 

Once bitten...twice brazen.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

2 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

They'll be saved just in time by some cunts, just like Dyche stepped in at the right time. They are a turd made of cork and by hook or crook.. usually cheating they find a way. Thats the Everton universe.

Nah.

 

[Jarvinja Ilnow]

12 hours ago, Chocoholic said:

The twilight zone

It may be January sales season but for Everton the only question is who’s buying. 777 Partners agreed a deal to purchase owner Farhad Moshiri’s majority shareholding back in September, but three months on, they are still awaiting Premier League approval to complete a takeover.

 

By Philippe Auclair and Paul Brown

 

The levels of debt at the club and the team’s on-field prospects this season, following a ten-point penalty from the Premier League over a financial rule breach, are a cause for concern; but the group remains interested in launching a full takeover of the Goodison Park club, as a source close to the bid confirmed to Josimar: “there are concerns about the level of debt and the team’s on-pitch performance. But these are serious investors.”

 

Josimar also understands that another group of US investors who share the belief that 777's bid is doomed to failure were also in the process of putting together an offer for Everton just before Christmas. This group, which is a...

 

... relatively new player in football finance and aquisitions game, comprised of an Everton fans group that aims to lead the club to the summit of English and European football. "This is where a club like Everton deserves to be, given its rich history and seniority in the city of Liverpool" said its chairman, Duncan Donuts. "I know I haven't always had the most positive of relationships with my fellow fans at the Grand Old Lady, but if we all pull together we can overcome the obstacles the powers that be have thrown in front of us, and fulfill the vision that Bill Kenright had for us."

 

Grand Old Team was unavailable for comment.

 

 

 

 

2

 

[Harry Squatter]

Just remember lads. They aren't a small club. They were the first club to sell tickets via text message.

[an tha]

Oh Everton....

[VladimirIlyich]

4 hours ago, Harry Squatter said:

Just remember lads. They aren't a small club. They were the first club to sell tickets via text message.

 

[Anubis]

That shitbag Ian Doyle put in a snide tweet about Klopp celebrating by copying Arteta’s fist pumps. Stupid cunt doesn’t realise that no matter how much he tries to placate them they still call it the Red Echo. 
 

If we win next Sunday he’ll still want to interview somebody. The club should tell him to fuck off.

[Turkish Delight]

12 minutes ago, Anubis said:

That shitbag Ian Doyle put in a snide tweet about Klopp celebrating by copying Arteta’s fist pumps. Stupid cunt doesn’t realise that no matter how much he tries to placate them they still call it the Red Echo. 
 

If we win next Sunday he’ll still want to interview somebody. The club should tell him to fuck off.

 

I saw that but thought he was taking the piss.

[Anubis]

4 minutes ago, Turkish Delight said:

 

I saw that but thought he was taking the piss.

Difficult to tell with The Echo given how much they try to cosy up to the shite.

[sh#t waffle]

He was definitely taking the piss.

[DalyanPete]

On 17/02/2024 at 10:32, joeyk said:

You sure there wasn't 3 more pages? 

Ha ha, very clever.

[Leyton388]

So when do Victim FC hear about the appeal? 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Are they the first premier league club to be officially declared cheats.