Chelsea owner Todd Boehly set for £31m payday, Everton takeover link is key
Today at 12:45 PM
Dan Friedkin is set to rescue Everton from takeover purgatory after two hellish years. Now, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly looks set to capitalise from a previous bidder’s financial struggles.
An American billionaire who has made his fortune in the media and automotive sectors, Friedkin is set to expand his interests in sports by buying Everton in a deal that values the club at around £550m.
The bulk of that headline figure will not go to soon-to-be-former owner Farhad Moshiri but instead to reducing the club’s debt burden.
Friedkin is one of five bidders to have held exclusive talks with Moshiri and one of three to have lent the club money in the process.
One, the New York-headquartered private equity vehicle MSP Sports Capital, were repaid using the funds that Friedkin himself fronted when he first entered into discussions with Moshiri.
The situation involving the other, multi-club investors 777 Partners, is decidedly more complex.
777 Partners, who until recently owned eight clubs worldwide, loaned Everton £200m when they began talks with Moshiri in September last year.
But the Miami-based firm were unable to convince the Premier League to ratify the deal because they were beset by various legal and financial challenges at the time.
Now, it appears that Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly could be one of the beneficiaries from 777’s financial strife.
Boehly-owned company owed money by 777 Partners
Following news that 777 Partners are set to enter liquidation, Everton supporters will feel that they dodged a bullet.
Friedkin, who also owns AS Roma, is seen as a more credible option who can service the club’s debt, ease cash flow anxieties, and ensure a smooth transition to Bramley Moore Dock – hopefully in the top flight.
All of 777’s football assets have now been transferred to one of their lenders, the investment firm A-Cap.
Now, the investigative outlet Josimar has reported that A-Cap took out a £31m loan in May from a company owned by Chelsea’s Boehly in order to finance the clubs it had inherited from 777 Partners.
Staggeringly, it is said that loan was agreed at a 46 per cent annual interest rate, meaning Boehly’s company could be owed approximately £45m by next year.
For context, most Premier League clubs who have taken out commercial loans have done so at a rate of around six to eight per cent.
This information will hammer home two points – Everton have narrowly avoided disaster thanks to 777’s collapse and, for all Chelsea’s mind-bending spending under Boehly, his wider business interests more than cover the costs he personally has put into the club.
When will Dan Friedkin’s Everton takeover be complete?
Typically, it will take around 12 weeks for a takeover to get the approval of the Premier League and the financial conduct authority.
Friedkin will have no issues passing the owners’ and directors’ test, so that will be a formality for Everton.
That is just as well, as financial experts had forecasted that Everton would run into crippling cash flow issues if a takeover was not finalised before the turn of the new year.
