£200m takeover of Everton looks imminent
EVERTON Football Club is on the verge of being taken over by an American-led consortium in a £200m deal.
The Times is reporting the group has signed a head of terms agreement and is performing due diligence on the club’s accounts and could be running the Goodison Park club within the next six weeks.
Current Everton chairman Bill Kenwright has allowed John J Moores, Charles Noell and their partners – including investors from both the UK and US – a period of exclusivity to examine the finances of the club.
This expires at the end of January, when a decision will be imminent about whether to go ahead with the deal, the newspapers said.
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Kenwright, owner of the club since 1999, would be offered an honorary position, marking an end to his decade-long quest for extra investment in the Premier League side.
Moores and Noell’s have made their money in technology. Moores was founder of BMC software, which eventually became one of the biggest firms in the field in the United States.
He founded JMI Equity, a venture capital house, in 1992 and two years later spent $80 million to buy the San Diego Padres baseball franchise.
After winning four divisional titles and one National League title, he sold up, in 2012, for 10 times his initial stake, taking $200m (about £135m) from the most recent Major League Baseball television deal.
The 71-year-old’s worth was estimated at about $825m in 2010, though it is thought his decision to sell the Padres was inspired by the cost of his divorce.
Noell helped to co-found JMI and has been president of Moores’s family investment company since 1991.
No-one at Everton was available to comment.
