US investment group MSP Sports Capital have not abandoned their talks with Everton over an equity stake in the club.
The New York-based firm had been in discussions with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri in recent weeks over a deal to potentially take as much as 25 per cent of the club, that stake valued at around £105m, and co-founders of MSP Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad, along with vice president Peter Taylor had been present at Goodison Park last month for the 2-1 home defeat by Southampton.
However, their interest in Everton was called into question on Wednesday when the Financial Times reported that Najafi was planning to lead on a £3.1bn takeover of Tottenham Hotspur, a deal that MSP Sports Capital and partners would provide 70 per cent of the funding with the remaining 30 per cent from investors in the Gulf.
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The FT report stated that it was the intention of Najafi to submit a bid for Spurs and that one had yet to be lodged, something Spurs sources have corroborated. But reports on Wednesday that followed the FT exclusive focused on the continued reluctance of ENIC and Daniel Levy to sell their controlling stake in the North London club, with the valuation that had been floated in relation to the potential Najafi bid reported to fall below the valuation that Spurs chairman Levy has on the club, according to the Telegraph, which cite a valuation of £3.5bn or above for Spurs.
Despite the links to a potential Spurs move, financial sources in the US have told the ECHO that talks have not been broken off and that the interest in the purchase of a minority stake something that MSP are still in dialogue over with Moshiri and his representatives, which include Deloitte and Matthew Hammond, engaged on a personal basis by Moshiri, who is a long-time business associate of the Everton owner and the former chief financial officer of Mail.ru, the Russian firm that was formerly owned by Alisher Usmanov. Hammond was present at the Southampton match alongside Najafi, Moorad and Taylor.
In a recorded interview with Everton's Fan Advisory Board in London last month, Moshiri, who said that investment was "close", said: "It’s just bringing more expertise in terms of global sponsorship, commercial development. A lot of specialist sport investors have this pool of knowledge, and it’s to secure that for Everton."
That would very much align with MSP Sports Capital, a firm whose investments include a stake in the McLaren Formula One team, where Najafi serves as vice-chairman on the board following the closing of a £185m investment in 2020, one that began at 15 per cent but was set to rise to up to 33 per cent by the end of 2022., as well as a majority shareholding in the extreme sports competition 'X Games'.
Najafi, who retained his shareholding, the second largest, in the Phoenix Suns after its sale to Mat Ishbia last month for $4bn, is also part of the ownership group Bolt Football Holdings, an investment vehicle that was used to acquire 97 per cent of Beveren in 2020 and one where he sits alongside Crystal Palace shareholder and co-owner of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, David Blitzer, as well as MSG Sports Capital partner Moorad.
The FT story around a potential takeover deal for Spurs is understood to have been met with some surprise within Everton. Further talks, the ECHO were told by sources in the US, were planned and it was understood that MSP had a desire to continue to engage over a deal to acquire a stake of the club.
Any deal for Everton would almost certainly see MSP have board representation, with two seats understood to have been discussed. MSP are active investors and seek to have a strong input with regards to direction of the assets in which they invest.
In a 2022 guest editorial for Sportico, Moorad explained: "At MSP Sports Capital, we only pursue investments with operational control or significant influence.
"Fundamentally, investors are attracted to the disproportionate annualised returns available in sports, with limited relative downside risk. In order to achieve favourable risk-adjusted returns, investing discipline remains critical in an industry where emotion can easily take hold of the uninitiated. We believe it’s critical to evaluate both macro dynamics (trajectory of the sport, league management, league competition, regulatory environment) and micro dynamics specific to the asset (management team, brand power and digital presence, fan/sponsor loyalty, local market dynamics and real estate opportunities)."
Those real estate opportunities exist at both Everton and Spurs, with the Blues' new stadium to open next year, and planned ancillary developments related to it around the city being attractive. Spurs' £1bn state of the art stadium that opened in 2019 is widely regarded as the best in class in Europe at present, and with a long-term NFL contract in place it is an offers a strong value proposition for any would-be investors.
Any move to push ahead with a bid for Spurs by MSP, which some sources have questioned, would be a blow to Everton's investment search, although sources have said they are speaking to more than one party at present, as they seek to recapitalise the business but also continue their search for external funding required for the remainder of the Everton Stadium build. That search is being led by US-based investment banks MUFG and JP Morgan Chase.
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