John Textor faces having to repay a £200m loan to the Friedkin Group immediately if he completes a takeover of Everton under the terms of the agreement the family-owned investment group struck with owner Farhad Moshiri.
The American businessman has launched a fresh bid for Everton following the collapse of the Friedkin deal last month amid legal concerns about a separate £200m debt the club owes to 777 Partners.
But any agreement brokered by Textor will have to clear significant hurdles before it comes to fruition. As well as Textor having to sell his 45 per cent stake in Crystal Palace to proceed, he also needs to address the Friedkin Group’s debt – which has a clause that states it must be repaid on change of ownership.
That means Textor either needs to repay it in full – adding another £200m to whatever price he pays for the club – or come to an agreement with the Friedkin Group in advance of a deal.
i understands that the Friedkins are willing to negotiate on that but any deal would be likely to take into account the fact Textor has deep pockets – he already owns other clubs and clearly has the funds to pay and run a Premier League club.
Textor, whose Eagle Football Holdings company also owns stakes in Lyon, Brazilian club Botafogo and RWD Molenbeek in Belgium, paid £87.5m for his stake in Palace and is open to offers for it. He was one of the parties who failed with a bid for Everton in June, when the Friedkin group entered exclusivity.
Moshiri is not short of interest in buying the club – indeed i understands there are other parties ready to make an offer for Everton apart from Textor – but the complexities around the club’s debts make any deal complex.
That was the case for the Friedkins, who also own Roma and had a genuine enthusiasm and ability to fund Everton. But the situation around 777 – who are being pursued in multiple civil cases and have money troubles of their own after their doomed bid for Everton – emerged in detailed due diligence and sunk the deal.
Everton have stressed that off-the-field uncertainty has not impacted the club’s summer transfer plans and there is no prospect of administration at Goodison Park. The stadium development at Bramley-Moore Dock remains on track.
They have also been able to keep hold of Jarrad Branthwaite, in the face of bids from Manchester United that they felt undervalued the highly-rated centre-back, while adding to the squad.
There is, however, still some uncertainty over Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who scored in the final friendly of the summer against Roma on Saturday but is yet to sign a new contract. He is in the final year of his deal but there has not been significant interest in the striker since a move to Newcastle collapsed in June over wage demands.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/mFR6fNO
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