The Everton takeover saga is finally at an end after the club announced it had been bought by the Friedkin Group.

More than a year after Farhad Moshiri first announced he was selling his 94.1 per cent stake and following the collapse of talks with several other potential suitors – most notoriously 777 Partners – the Premier League side confirmed they were now under new ownership.

Everton said they had been acquired by Roundhouse Capital Holdings Limited, an entity within the Friedkin Group (TFG), following the necessary regulatory approvals from the Premier League, Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, the Football Association, and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Dan Friedkin, chairman and chief executive of TFG – which also owns Roma – said in a statement: “Dear Evertonians, following the completion of the takeover of Everton Football Club, I want to express my gratitude for your continued support and introduce the incoming executive chairman of Everton, Marc Watts. I take immense pride in welcoming one of England’s most historic football clubs to our global family, The Friedkin Group. Everton represents a proud legacy, and we are honoured to become custodians of this great institution.

“The Friedkin Group is a diverse family of companies with a global footprint spanning industries such as sports, automotive, entertainment, hospitality, and adventure. Across all our endeavours, we strive to deliver extraordinary experiences that ignite people’s passions. We are thrilled to bring this ethos to Everton and the Liverpool City Region.

“Whilst we are new to the club, we fully understand the vital role Everton plays in local culture, history, and the lives of Evertonians here and around the world. We are deeply committed to honouring this legacy while contributing positively to the community, economy, and people of this remarkable city. Once again, thank you for your continued support.”

Analysis: A truly dizzying saga

If Everton’s new Hollywood-producer owner Dan Friedkin ever chose to make a documentary about their extraordinary takeover saga, he could do worse than naming it after The NeverEnding Story.

Until Thursday’s confirmation that the club had finally been bought by The Friedkin Group (TFG), that was how Evertonians must have felt about the more than year-long wait they were forced to endure after Farhad Moshiri first announced his intention to sell his 94.1 per cent stake. And that is not even accounting for the dizzying twists and turns that ensued in one of the most remarkable changes of ownership the Premier League has ever seen.

Those twists and turns can be traced back even further than Moshiri’s announcement in September last year that he was looking to cut his losses after burning through an estimated £750 million of his fortune since buying Everton in 2016. The club were already heavily in debt when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 forced them to suspend crucial sponsorship deals with Moshiri’s oligarch business associate Alisher Usmanov, compounding a mounting financial plight that would ultimately see them docked points for breaking Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

The invasion came weeks after Moshiri had increased his stake in Everton but, by that summer, he was writing to fans to tell them he was open to “minority investment” after it emerged he had held talks with a consortium led by Peter Kenyon, the former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive. Those came to nought, as did discussions with US investment firm Moorad Sports Partners (MSP), which the club ended up owing £158 million in loans the Premier League ultimately insisted any new owner would have to pay off.

Emergence of 777

Moshiri’s bid to lure investors was not helped when Everton were charged in March last year with breaching PSR after recording mammoth losses of £371.8 million in the period ending with the 2021-22 season. But then what looked like a potential saviour began to emerge in the shape of Miami-based 777 Partners, which had been buying up football clubs around the world at an astonishing rate. And by that summer, negotiations had evolved from a minority investment to a full takeover.

Unfortunately for Moshiri and 777, the latter’s past was already beginning to catch up with it, with Norwegian website Josimar chronicling how the company had faced allegations of fraud, offering illegal loans and failing to pay bills totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US. It also detailed how co-founder Josh Wander, who set up the company in 2015 with Steven Pasko, had faced drug charges to which he pleaded no contest in 2003. In response, the company told Telegraph Sport: “777 has always strived to conduct its businesses in line with local laws and regulations. Where it has been suggested otherwise, we will defend our reputation vigorously by all legitimate means.” A source added that “all cases cited have either been closed, dismissed or are being contested as baseless”. In September last year, Telegraph Sport also revealed there were doubts within Government about 777’s suitability as Everton owners amid the impending imposition of an independent regulator with the power to veto club takeovers.

None of this stopped Moshiri announcing three days later that he had struck a deal worth up to £500 million to sell Everton to 777. The agreement included an extraordinary performance-related clause that would make the final price plummet if the relegation-haunted club were to crash out of the Premier League. It took hours for the deal to come under threat after Telegraph Sport revealed an investigation had been launched following concerns raised about the firm’s investment in British basketball and complaints it had been late paying its bills.

But 777 was adamant funding Everton would not be a problem and it duly began bankrolling them with loans to the tune of around £20 million a month under the terms of its agreement with Moshiri, who had pulled the plug on his own largesse. This meant adding 777 to the debt-laden club’s mounting list of creditors, something that risked being a major problem if the takeover collapsed.

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright did not live to help hand over the reins to a new owner after dying at the age of 78 the following month, but Wander and Pasko nevertheless began to clear the hurdles necessary to succeed him after the pair received the all clear to do so. However, they still had to convince the Premier League they had the funds to bankroll Everton as part of its owners’ and directors’ test.

And it was the world’s richest league that dealt what could have been a major blow to the takeover when the club was docked 10 points for breaching PSR rules in November last year. The punishment, later reduced to six points on appeal, triggered the threat of lawsuits from rival clubs and the risk of hundreds of millions of pounds being wiped off the value of the sale.

Deal collapses

That failed to deter Moshiri or 777 and, by the new year, the latter was confidently forecasting a takeover would be completed before the end of January, despite Premier League chief executive Richard Masters suggesting questions still needed to be answered while speaking at a Culture, Media & Sport select committee hearing.

The first of what became many deadlines came and went amid growing pressure on the league to make a decision on a deal, with working capital and financing for Everton’s new stadium assured only until the end of March. As that date approached, it emerged that 777 was facing an ultimatum from the Premier League, which wrote to the club confirming it was “minded to approve” a takeover but subject to stringent conditions being met. Those conditions included stipulations around funding and the repayment of the MSP loan.

Meanwhile, supporters’ patience over the deal had reached breaking point and Everton’s Fan Advisory Board demanded answers from Moshiri, 777 and the Premier League as to why the proposed takeover had yet to be ratified. More doubts emerged following a Financial Times report that regulators in the US states of Utah and South Carolina were “moving to force five insurers to cut their exposure” in 777. A second points deduction for PSR breaches – this time two points –by Everton in April was followed by the news 777 required a last-gasp extension for the repayment of a £160 million loan to MSP and Evertonian businessmen Andy Bell – founder of the investment platform AJ Bell – and George Downing.

As the season drew to a close, even the most diehard optimist was starting to waver on a deal being done following a succession of bad news, starting with a delay in 777 loaning the club around £16 million to cover their payroll, the financial collapse of the US investment firm’s low-cost Australian airline, Bonza, and the bizarre development of its public relations advisers ceasing to work for the company over unpaid bills. That was followed by Bonza’s Canadian sister airline Flair announcing other backers would take up shares owned by 777.

Then came a devastating lawsuit against Wander and Pasko, who were accused of using “an outright Ponzi scheme” to buy Everton and of borrowing “fraudulently” against circa £280 million of assets. An 82-page complaint filed in New York by Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP and Leadenhall Life Insurance Linked Investments Fund PLC branded 777 “a house of cards on the brink of collapse”, adding: “Everton is the latest shiny object of Wander’s fraudulent scheme.” A spokesperson for 777 told Telegraph Sport it did not typically comment on litigation. Court papers also alleged 777 had been named in 16 lawsuits over claims of unpaid debts of £100 million.

Amid demands from minority Everton shareholders for Moshiri to end the 777 takeover “farce”, he held crisis talks with the group. But despite talk MSP, Bell and Downing were prepared to step in if the deal collapsed, Moshiri unexpectedly agreed to extend the existing sale and purchase agreement.

A takeover that many had warned was doomed from day one finally fell through on June 1 after 777 failed to meet another loan-repayment deadline, leaving Moshiri exploring “all options for future ownership”. They included Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor, who revealed a week earlier he was interested in buying Everton after confirming he was actively exploring selling his 40 per cent stake in the London club. Bell and Downing also began talks to secure the backing of an investment firm founded by one of the world’s richest men, Texan billionaire Michael Dell, the founder of computer giant Dell Technologies.

Viable alternatives

Negotiations with Textor soon broke down as a consortium of Middle East and US investors led by London-based Armenian Vatche Manoukian entered the fray. Even the financial insurer thought to have bankrolled 777’s loans to Everton, A-Cap, was said to be being targeted by Moshiri.

Instead it was Friedkin, the billionaire owner of Roma, with whom Moshiri shook hands on exclusivity terms a month after the end of the season that included TFG taking on the MSP loan and funding Everton’s running costs. But, in keeping with what had been a catalogue of false dawns, Friedkin ended month-long talks after becoming concerned about the level of debt at the club. In a further blow, sources close to a consortium led by Bell and Downing indicated they were not planning to step in.

Come the eve of the new season, Textor was back in the frame and in September he even went as far as granting an interview to Sky Sports in which he claimed to be close to buying the club. So premature did Everton consider his comments that interim chief executive Colin Chong issued a statement stressing “there remains some work to be done to complete the transaction”. Less than a week later, it emerged that Friedkin was also back at the table and less than a week after that, he agreed a £500 million package to end Moshiri’s chaotic Goodison reign.

A deal was struck after Moshiri accepted he would receive far less than he had originally been demanding. The loans provided to prop up Everton for more than a year complicated the completion of a deal and almost three months passed before Thursday’s announcement.

The takeover has gone down badly with Roma fans, who have been protesting against their owner’s expansionist plans, but things are finally looking up for their counterparts on Merseyside. Their patience truly deserves a Hollywood ending.