The Esk claims that it would be “extraordinary” if 777 could meet the Premier League’s qualifications in order to take over at Everton at this late hour of the day.
Following the first story by Bloomberg on March 22, the Toffees blogger responded on his website on March 24. The letter from the league to the potential new owners stated that certain conditions must be fulfilled in order for conditional approval to be granted.
According to his estimate, it will take more than £380 million to accomplish this, in addition to turning their loans to the club into equity. This translates to a minimum payment of £64 million to Farhad Moshiri for the sale itself, £158 million to settle MSP Sports Capital’s stadium loan, and £60 million in working capital funding for the remainder of the season.
Additionally, 777 obtained more than £150 million in high-interest loans for Everton; these may also need to be repaid in order to finish the equity conversion, which might result in yet another significant bill.
According to The Esk, there must be a serious uncertainty that the four requirements—which Josimar disclosed on March 23—can be fulfilled at this time if they haven’t previously been reached. These requirements are roughly the same as they have always been in order to pass the owners and directors test.
“In the last six months, Everton’s position has significantly declined, and 777 Partner’s position has declined even further,” he said. It defies logic that they wouldn’t have finished the deal by now if the financial requirements could be satisfied. Moshiri, Everton, the Premier League, and even 777 Partners don’t think it makes sense.
“Given the urgency for new capital, as a requirement to fulfil the Premier League’s acquisition conditions and Everton’s own financial position, it seems extraordinary that such requirements would be fulfilled at this late stage in the process,” he continued, referencing 777’s inability to secure new capital funding towards the end of last year.
substantial question caused by 777’s inability to meet the terms for the Everton transaction
The American company has obviously invested a significant amount of money over the last seven months to keep the team afloat, but it would stand to reason that they would have already disclosed this to the league if they could have obtained nearly £400 million to get past the necessary obstacles and complete the takeover.
The letter appears to have escalated the situation by setting a deadline for 777 to repay the MSP loans by mid-April. As a result, 777 must now take the required action or face having their deal halted.
Everton supporters find the situation perplexing because it raises two obvious questions: first, why haven’t they demonstrated to the Premier League that the company has the resources to pay for all necessary expenses? This is especially true given that some reports suggest the company is confident it can complete the deal.
Perhaps more perplexingly, though, is what they expected to happen if they didn’t understand, even in the event that Richard Masters’ office chose to let them pass.
It appears that the MSP repayment deadline should be met in one way or another if the letter itself wasn’t as revolutionary as it seemed to be.
After all this time, if this agreement falls through, it will have been almost a year and a half since MSP and 777 attempted to take over, and the team and its supporters will still be at a loss for direction.
