After more than seven years, Farhad Moshiri is retiring from Everton FC. On Friday, the controversial owner reached an agreement with 777 Partners – which is expanding its network in the process.
The investment hunger of the investment firm 777 Partners in professional football was far from satisfied with its entry into Hertha BSC. In the future, the investor from Miami also wants to get involved in the Premier League: On Friday, Everton FC announced that the current club owner Farhad Moshiri had reached an agreement with 777 Partners on the sale of his shares, which amount to 94.1 per cent. This had already been in the offing.
If the US company passes the Premier League’s “Owners and Directors Test”, the change of ownership could be completed as early as the last quarter of this year, according to club sources. Everton did not disclose how much 777 Partners would pay for Moshiri’s shares.
Moshiri: “Immeasurable changes “
“The nature of ownership and funding of top football clubs has changed immeasurably since I first invested in Everton over seven years ago,” the club quoted the Iranian-British billionaire, who has been a shareholder in the Toffees since 2016 and majority owner since 2018. Today, he said, the biggest clubs are owned by private equity firms or state-backed companies and funds.
“After my long discussions with 777, I have come to the conclusion that they are the best partner to take our great club forward with all the benefits of their multi-club investment model,” Moshiri added. Hertha BSC in March became the seventh football club in the global portfolio of 777 Partners, which originally comes from the insurance industry.
Everton has floundered sportingly and financially in recent years under Moshiri’s management. In the league, Everton have twice been lucky to avoid relegation for the first time since 1954, while at the same time facing a severe fine for possible breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules. Among other things, the club’s costly new stadium, which is due to be occupied at the end of 2024, combined with the consequences of the Corona pandemic caused major problems. Many fans have long longed for an end to the Moshiri era.
