Everton takeover: football finance expert rules out three parties and names current frontrunner

Football finance expert Stefan Borson reckons that three prospective owners can be ruled out of completing an Everton takeover.

With 777 Partners’ deal collapsing, having failed to get Premier League approval despite agreeing a purchase last September, majority owner Farhad Moshiri is seeking a new party to buy the club.

There have been several who have been linked so far. They include local businessmen Andy Bell and George Downing, who are being backed by American billionaire Michael Dell and MSP Sports Capital - who loaned Everton £158 million last year along with Bell and Downing.

A-Cap, who were funding 777, have also been mooted along with AS Roma owner Dan Freidkin. However, Borson believes the latter should not be considered. Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “I have been there in these sort of situations a number of years ago when City were not quite the attractive they might be these days. You do get a lot of tyre-kickers who come along that want to buy football clubs.

“I would say although they have a creditable list of people on this list, when you break it down, there are not that many likely buyers. If you were to immediately get rid of Dan Freidkin the Roma owner because there is not much point in him buying it when he has got Roma and can’t have any significant success in Europe because of the ownership issues that would cause.

“You can immediately ignore A-Cap who are the people who were funding 777. There is no way A-Cap are going to sit in the seat 777 were in and try to do that deal. You can put a line through them as well.”

Another party interested is a consortium being led by London-based businessman Vatche Manoukian. He is said to be backed by a member of the Saudi royal family and the Australian-based Myers family and has reportedly lodged a £400 million bid.

But Borson believes that figure is too low given the debt that Everton have - and Bell and Downing are the current frontrunners.

He added: “It sounds good, doesn’t it? Except it’s like owning a house for £1 million and someone comes along and says they’ll give you £400,000 in cash. If you break down what £400 million means, they have got more than £600 million in third-party debt. He’s proposing something that gives Moshiri zero and the current debt holders a very big haircut. The chances of him getting this for £400 million are close to zero.

“I would say you can put that one to one side as well. I don’t think he has the money as well. I think it’s whoever is fronting the bid from. I would say it’s more Andy Bell and George Downing being the leading party in the bidding right now.”