So the Friedkin Group it is for Everton fans to pin their future hopes on. That they have a future at all has been of much conjecture in recent months and the collapse of 777 Partners takeover on May 31 only added to the uncertainty at Goodison Park.
The subsequent weeks have seen speculation ramp up over who owner Farhad Moshiri would opt to sell to. For many reasons, that was never going to be simple given his tendency to be very much his own man.
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But last Friday, The Athletic revealed Dan Friedkin, the U.S. billionaire who owns Roma in Italy, had emerged as the frontrunner to take the reins. With envious eyes on a new stadium at Bramley-Moore and attracted by Everton’s rich history, his group has been granted a period of exclusivity to complete a takeover and make a first foray into the Premier League.
So, what happens now? The Athletic’s Matt Slater, Patrick Boyland and James Horncastle explain.
What’s happened?
After two years of kissing frogs, Moshiri may have finally found his prince.
In the interest of brevity, we will fast-forward through most of his amphibious advances and start this tale of boy meets American conglomerate from the moment Moshiri accepted the fact that 777 Partners — the group he had been dancing with for nine months — was a non-starter.
The Monaco-based businessman took his beer goggles off two weeks ago and, in doing so, he fired the starting gun on what can be best described as a 100m sprint, but with Moshiri running from one end of the track and a bunch of potential new owners running towards him, from the other.
Moshiri’s motivation for haste is obvious: he is simply no longer able to fund Everton and they have big bills to pay — most notably a significant payment to the contractor building their new stadium, Laing O’Rourke.
It is time to start the fit-out of Bramley-Moore Dock’s interior spaces. Everton maintain they have the money to hand but that will not leave much for anything else. Moshiri must sell.
The need for speed from Everton’s would-be white knights is less clear but Premier League clubs do not come up for sale every day, particularly ones with histories and fanbases like this, as well as new, iconic, waterfront stadiums. And this club might be available at a slight discount, given the present custodian’s circumstances make this prize even more attractive, albeit a tad risky for reasons we will get into.
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So, thundering down the track from the other direction, we have had three of Everton’s existing debt-holders, two new groups of unknown international investors and two American multi-club impresarios, John Textor and Dan Friedkin.
Textor was the first out of the blocks but his chances were hobbled by the 45 per cent stake he owns in Crystal Palace. He must sell that before he buys another Premier League club and it seems that nobody wants to pay him as much as he wants for the privilege of being largely ignored by Palace’s other shareholders.
That meant the bid from British businessmen Andy Bell and George Downing surged ahead. Not only do they support Everton, they have lent the club about £50million ($63m), which means they have financial skin in the game and know what is under the bonnet. Neither of them are “Premier League” rich, though, which is why their bid hinged on a £350million loan from BDT & MSD Partners, the investment firm linked to U.S. IT billionaire Michael Dell.
Not ideal, then, in terms of trying to reduce Everton’s debt mountain. But a nice combination of local passion and proven track records in business, with serious American financial support from a firm that is deeply invested in European football. Which is why Bell and Downing looked pretty good… until a couple of weeks ago.
First, there were the bolts from the blue — bids from a group fronted by the London-based lawyer Vatche Manoukian and an even more mysterious one from a gang called Vici Private Finance. They attracted media interest but never looked like winners.
Friedkin, on the other hand, was a different calibre of athlete. Once his tentative interest in Everton was confirmed, his Bolt became more Usain-like than blue. And, by last Friday, he had streaked ahead and the rest of the field knew they were beaten.
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The only question is: will Friedkin coast through the line or slam on the brakes? A deal has been agreed and Everton are there for the taking. It would seem very strange to stop now but stranger things have happened, Moshiri thinking 777 was his frog prince, for example.
Matt Slater
Who is Dan Friedkin?
Let us assume that Friedkin is going to claim his prize and Everton will have a new benefactor — subject to Premier League approval, which will be a formality — soon.
Thomas Dan Friedkin, to use his full name, is chairman and CEO of The Friedkin Group. His father was Thomas Hoyt Friedkin, a pilot and racing-car enthusiast, who became a stuntman and then a billionaire businessman. He did not achieve that last feat by crashing cars for a living; he did it by securing the right to sell Toyotas across five American states in the 1960s.
The company he set up, Gulf States Toyota, is now a subsidiary of The Friedkin Group run by his son. It is its biggest earner and one of the largest car dealerships on the planet.
Thomas Hoyt Friedkin passed away in 2017 but Dan took over the company in 1995. It had started to diversify by buying huge swathes of Tanzania — Thomas Hoyt was a big-game hunter — and from there it was a short hop to luxury hotels and golf courses.
But the fun stuff did not stop there. The Friedkin Group got into the movie business in 2017, buying the company Neon, which distributed the Oscar-winning Parasite (2019). Friedkin has since picked up several producer credits, including one for Martin Scorsese’s 2023 western crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon.
Oh, and he won a movie stunt award for landing a Spitfire on the beach in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (2017). That will be quite the tale to tell at his first Premier League shareholders’ meeting.
The Friedkins’ interest in sport started with naming rights deals for venues in Texas, which is why the NBA’s Houston Rockets, MLS side FC Dallas and USL team San Antonio FC all play at homes called Toyota.
But the big move came in 2020 when Dan Friedkin bought out an American group that had owned Roma since 2011.
That group, led by Jim Pallotta, enjoyed a good run on the pitch, finishing second in Serie A three times in four seasons and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2018, but it ran up huge losses, which means Everton will not be Friedkin’s first visit to that rodeo.
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And last year, Friedkin took the first step on his multi-club journey by buying French fourth-tier side Cannes.
But what Everton fans will really want to know is: has Dan got the readies?
The Friedkin Group has annual revenues north of $11billion and, according to U.S. business outlet Forbes, Dan Friedkin is worth $6.2bn, which makes him the 434th-richest person on the planet. That is Premier League rich.
Matt Slater
How much of Everton is he buying?
Moshiri, who first invested in Everton in 2016, owns 94.1 per cent, and Friedkin has agreed a deal to buy the lot.
We do not know exactly how much he is paying for those shares — it will not be much, though — or how he intends to deal with the almost £600millon of secured debt that is sitting on the balance sheet.
He has committed to settling the £158million loan that Bell, Downing and MSP made last year, as that is secured on the club subsidiary that owns the new stadium, and it seems unlikely that he would be comfortable with Everton owing lender Rights and Media Funding more than £200million for long — not at interest rates in the region of 10 per cent, anyway.
But perhaps most intriguing is how he plans to deal with the £200million that 777 lent to Everton to fund the construction of the stadium and meet the club’s monthly deficits.
That money, like most of what 777 has been playing with for the last few years, came from A-Cap’s insurance customers. A-Cap, which is dealing with its own financial and legal headaches, needs that debt to at least continue to look like a real asset, so a possible solution is that it just agrees to extend Everton’s IOU and defer all interest payments.
That would mean Friedkin could focus more of his wallet on finishing the stadium, which is the main reason he is even interested in Everton, and stabilising the club.
Matt Slater
What are the next steps?
Now exclusivity has been agreed with Moshiri, the Friedkin Group will be given access to Everton’s data room so they can complete due diligence into the club.
It is not unusual for there to be an element of horse-trading between buyer and seller during such a period as the finalities are ironed out, but Moshiri and others close to him — advisors Deloitte, for one — must be happy with the guideline terms offered and confident in Friedkin’s ability to complete. The terms of the final deal remain still subject to change.
There are obvious hurdles ahead. This is far from the first time Moshiri has entered into exclusivity with a new investor — and none of the previous deals got over the line. Dealing with him is far from easy, and there are other creditors to satisfy too.
Confidence quickly dwindled in the KAM Group’s ability to fund their acquisition of the club. 777 fell away at a different (later) stage in the process, when they were unable to meet all of the Premier League’s conditions to pass the final stage of the Owners and Directors Test (OADT). Had they been in a position to repay MSP, the club would now be in their hands.
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These are the regulatory challenges that Moshiri’s preferred bidders will now face. But there is an additional element to this too. Everton are loss-making month on month and, as with 777, Friedkin will have to provide some short-term funding. After reaching the exclusivity agreement this week, he has committed to paying off MSP’s loan and providing a fresh tranche of working capital.
Should the deal collapse, Friedkin would join the long line of creditors. A risky business for any potential new owner during the approvals process, but entirely necessary in the circumstances.
Patrick Boyland
What are the hurdles he must overcome?
Everton fans will be painfully familiar with the OADT process by now.
It will assess the source of Friedkin’s funding and the viability of his three-year business plan for Everton. Checks will be made on any members of the group in line for roles on the club’s board of directors.
It would not be a surprise if, as with 777, Friedkin was asked to meet a series of conditions outlined by the league to complete the takeover. In 777’s case, these included repayment of MSP’s £158million loan to the club, short-term funding placed in escrow to keep Everton going and a guarantee the new stadium project would be completed.
Several months on, some of those conditions have since been satisfied. But cash flow and stadium funding are likely to remain preoccupations for the league in particular.
Friedkin will have to establish a positive working relationship with Everton’s numerous influential creditors, including 777 and, perhaps most notably, Rights and Media Funding (RMF). The opaque Cheshire-based group has a change of control clause as part of the security on their loans and vetoed MSP’s own investment proposal last summer.
What happens with 777’s £200million debt position, recently assumed by the reinsurance firm A-Cap, is less certain, but Moshiri held talks with their founder Kenneth King recently in an attempt to find a resolution.
Patrick Boyland
How long is it likely to take?
That is anyone’s guess as the Premier League have always been wary about putting a timeline on their OADT process.
Newcastle United’s takeover took around a year to wave through due to the complexities of that deal, while 777’s process was in its ninth month when it unravelled.
The expectation on their side, after they reached an agreement with Moshiri last autumn, was that it was likely to take around 12 weeks to gain approval. Yet the complex nature of their business meant the source of their funding was difficult for the league to scrutinise. As a result, it rumbled on much longer than it should have done.
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It would be a surprise if Friedkin, who is on the board of the European Club Association and part of a number of UEFA committees, had the same issues.
Patrick Boyland
What is Friedkin’s track record in football club ownership?
The Friedkin Group invested in Roma during the Covid-19 pandemic. On the one hand, they have kept a low profile. Dan and his son Ryan, the vice-president, have regularly been seen at games but seldom heard. Actions, after all, speak louder than words.
As custodians, they enjoyed the highest approval rating of any owner in Italy. Every summer, the Friedkins pulled off a coup de theatre: first the appointment of Jose Mourinho then the signing of Paulo Dybala followed by the loan of Romelu Lukaku.
Mourinho and Lukaku were personally flown to Rome by Dan, who makes full use of his pilot’s licence. As a strategy, bringing in big names did not do much for the balance sheet and Roma have had to reckon with financial fair play (FFP) issues. But supporters don’t care about whether the club is in the red or the black. They saw ambition in the Friedkins’ strategy. Romanisti believed the Friedkins understood the game is about glory.
As Mourinho led Roma to back-to-back European finals and the club’s first trophy in 14 years, the fans flocked to Stadio Olimpico in droves, making it one of the best atmospheres in European football. The hiring of club legend Daniele De Rossi as Mourinho’s replacement was another popular move.
The flip side is the continued failure to qualify for the Champions League. It has gradually caught up with Roma, who have finished sixth in three straight seasons despite having the third-highest wage bill in Italy. Recent transfer windows have, as Mourinho pointed out, been prestige loans and free transfers.
Fans have started revising opinions of old owner Jim Pallotta, who became unpopular for calling out the ultras in the Curva Sud. He lost them forever when he criticised their behaviour and branded them “f***ing idiots”. But on the pitch under his management, Roma often finished runners-up in Serie A, almost always qualified for the Champions League (reaching a semi-final) and signed players such as Alisson, Marquinhos, Antonio Rudiger and Mohamed Salah.
The sacking of Mourinho and the resignation of general manager Tiago Pinto has left the Friedkins exposed to criticism like never before. The old lightning rods are no longer in place. Mourinho dominated the stage to such an extent they could maintain a low profile. Now that’s less the case.
“President low cost, we’ll give you a kicking, do you understand?” read one banner in the Curva Sud in January. But no owner in the history of Roma has escaped protest.
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CEO Lina Souloukou, the third in four years of The Friedkin Group’s ownership, has a challenging job on her hands and has come in for criticism during a perceived purge in a spending review. New technical director Florent Ghisolfi, hired from INEOS-owned Nice, has been brought in to transition the squad to De Rossi’s taste and make it capable of qualifying for the Champions League.
James Horncastle
How wealthy will this make Everton?
Tough question to answer, as rich owners do not necessarily make a club rich. Not immediately, anyway, as Aston Villa and Newcastle fans are discovering.
Perhaps a better way of thinking about this is that Everton are moving from the critical ward of a badly-stretched hospital to a private room in a much posher establishment. And they are starting to look much better.
Being better than Moshiri is a pretty low bar, as his tenure in charge will go down in the annals of English football history as one of the most financially incontinent. Hundreds of millions wasted for a best league finish of seventh, in Moshiri’s first season, and three straight relegation scraps more recently.
There is the new stadium, though. It is frightening to think what shape Everton would be in right now without it.
Matt Slater
What does it mean for Roma?
Contrary to the banner representing Friedkin as “president low cost”, The Friedkin Group has pumped vast resources into Roma.
Between recapitalising the club, delisting it from the stock exchange, trying to get a stadium project off the ground and hiring Mourinho, almost a billion euros has been spent. Running two big clubs with two big stadium projects is a huge undertaking in addition to The Friedkin Group’s ownership of French side Cannes.
We’ve also seen in the past how ownership groups with a Premier League team and a Serie A side tend to struggle with optics. One fanbase always thinks the other is favoured. Udinese supporters, for example, felt as if they were second-class citizens when Watford were able to use Premier League TV money to spend more than they could on players.
If the Friedkin Group really is in it for the long term, as their stadium project in the Pietralata district of Rome suggests, they will have to manage this aspect carefully.
James Horncastle
(Top image: Friedkin with the Conference League trophy Roma won in 2022. Photo: Silvia Lore/Getty Images)