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The billionaire Friedkin family has entered exclusive talks to acquire Everton Football Club from British-Iranian owner Farhad Moshiri, in a significant step towards resolving the uncertainty hanging over the English Premier League side.
The Texas-based Friedkin Group, which already owns Italian side AS Roma, had signed an exclusivity agreement and due diligence was under way, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
However, the Everton takeover process has been rocky and there is no guarantee of an agreement. A takeover would also require Premier League approval.
“It’s absolutely not a done deal,” one person warned.
Daniel Friedkin, whose net worth is estimated at $6bn by Forbes, owns Gulf States Toyota, a car distributor in the US south, and other business interests including film studios. He is known for his love of aviation, flying Spitfires and other vintage aircraft, and was Tom Hardy’s stunt pilot in the Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk.
Friedkin entered the fray after 777 Partners’ plan to buy the Liverpool-based side collapsed last month. 777 had agreed the deal in September, but the process dragged on as the Miami investment firm battled lawsuits and accusations of fraud, which it has denied.
The 59-year-old led the acquisition of Serie A side Roma in a deal worth €591mn in August 2020. The Italian club was runner-up in the Uefa Europa League final in 2023, having won the Europa Conference League the previous year.
Financial details of the Friedkin Group’s approach for Everton could not be established. However, consultancy Football Benchmark valued the club at between €519mn and €574mn, including debt, in a recent ranking of clubs.
Everton, Moshiri and the Friedkin Group declined to comment.
A successful deal would highlight the enduring appeal of owning top English clubs at a time when the Premier League is divided due to club squabbles over the future of financial regulations designed to encourage financial sustainability.
Everton has a rich history but won the last of its English top-flight tiles in 1987. Under Moshiri, its majority shareholder since 2018, Everton hired big name coaches and spent heavily on players but struggled on the pitch, fighting relegation in recent seasons.
Everton’s finances took a hit due to playing matches behind closed doors during the pandemic. The situation was exacerbated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which forced Everton to cut ties with sponsors linked to tycoon Alisher Usmanov, Moshiri’s former business partner.
As crucial revenue sources declined, Everton was forced to seek new loans to help fund working capital and a new stadium project.
Moshiri hopes that moving from Goodison Park to a 52,888-capacity home stadium on the banks of the River Mersey will transform Everton’s earnings potential. The stadium was a central part of Friedkin’s investment case, the people said.
The club owes hundreds of millions of pounds to lenders including Rights and Media Funding and MSP Sports Capital. 777 lent more than $200mn to Everton but that debt appears to have shifted to US firm Advantage Capital (A-Cap), a big lender to the Miami investment group.
Other lenders to Everton include stockbroker entrepreneur Andy Bell and property magnate George Downing, who had also held talks to acquire the club.
Everton was docked points last season for breaching Premier League spending limits. It reported a net loss of £89mn in the 2022-23 season.
