Everton face takeover ‘cliff edge’ with further loans from 777 Partners unlikely

Everton are facing a “cliff edge” on 31 March as their long-running takeover saga reaches a critical phase.

The club’s prospective new owners, Miami-based 777 Partners, have been given verbal confirmation of a face-to-face meeting with the Premier League at some point this week in a move that sources say they hope will “go some way to unsticking” the issues that have held up the deal.

An in-person summit will address the two sticking points on the deal: 777’s source of funds and their ability to fund the club over a three-year period. The prospective owners believe any discussions will be about clarifying answers they have already supplied to the league and are desperate for some “urgency” to be injected into the situation.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in mid-January he hoped the takeover would be resolved “within weeks” but another six weeks have passed since then. Given the club is relying on loans from 777 to cover outgoings and continue to pay for the building work at Bramley-Moore Dock, insiders say a “cliff edge” at the end of the month is looming for Everton with the US investors unwilling to keep funding the club indefinitely.

Over the last five months 777 have leant the club almost £190m – including a £30m payment at the start of February – and while a further loan has not been totally ruled it out it would require further progress and signals that a resolution was imminent to be signed off. If that isn’t the case there is huge uncertainty over what comes next for Everton.

The buyout has proved bitterly controversial, with 777’s business practices coming under heavy scrutiny throughout the process. Many supporters have voiced reservations about their suitability to take over from Farhad Moshiri, who has agreed a cut-price deal that includes relegation clauses to sell the club.

The Miami firm has a sprawling empire of companies under its remit and one of its subsidiaries – the reinsurance group 777 Re – recently saw its credit rating downgraded. That resulted in A-Cap, a New York-based risk management consultancy, ending its relationship with the company – with many observers suggesting that would impact on its funding of the takeover. Sources insist that is not the case, with the reinsurance business not funding the transaction.

777 co-founder Josh Wander has been a regular at Everton games this season, attending Saturday’s defeat against West Ham and speaking semi-regularly to Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell. But there are signs of frustration at the length of time the process is taking, despite the group insisting they are in it for the long term and that their loans prove their commitment to the takeover. 777’s loans represent “junior debt” so they would be at the back of the queue to be repaid if Everton fall deeper into financial trouble.

It would not be overstating matters to say this is one of the most important periods in Everton’s history, with a hearing over a second breach of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) to start later this month.

Having won a partial victory in their appeal by reducing a 10-point penalty for breaching PSR regulations in the 2021/22 season to six, the club face another potential points deduction for charges related to the 2022/23 campaign.

Off-field matters are overshadowing results on the pitch, where the Toffees are winless in the league since 16 December and sit only five points above Luton Town in the final relegation place.