IN THE MONEY: Can Everton really find their way out of a £400m hole? Sale of the Toffees to Miami-based investors 777 Partners could be at risk of collapse

Everton’s sale to Miami-based investment firm 777 Capital Partners is in danger of collapsing after it emerged major lenders at the club are not in favor of the deal – and could call in loans worth £350 million.

Mail Sport has learned that loans from MSP Sports Capital and mysterious media company Image & Media Rights contain ‘change of control clauses’.

This allows the lenders to call in the loans if they do not approve the new owners.

Sources close to MSP have indicated that they do not approve of 777 Capital Partners and would consider calling in their loans.

There are very real doubts whether 777 Capital Partners can afford to pay off both loans, in addition to taking on the club’s debt and stadium construction.

It has emerged that Everton owner Farhad Moshiri is so desperate to limit his financial losses at the club that he has agreed to a deal that will see him receive virtually no money up front, according to well-placed sources.

Sources close to the club believed Moshiri wanted £500 million for his 94.1 percent share.

Instead, he has struck a deal with 777 Capital Partners, which will see him receive a much lower amount based on performance-related conditions, including surviving in the Premier League this season.

A source close to the US-based investors told this newspaper that they had negotiated a series of clauses in lieu of heavy upfront payments.

The source also revealed serious doubts over whether 777 Capital Partners can afford to buy the club from Moshiri, pay off the club’s debts and complete the construction of the club’s Bramley-Moore stadium.

He told Mail Sport: ‘They don’t have access to £500 million.

‘They tend to buy clubs cheaply and include performance-related clauses with the sellers, rather than paying cash upfront.’

Moshiri’s finances have collapsed. He faces stadium interest repayments of £30 million a year after the club provided them with stadium loans to cover construction costs.

The Toffees secured loans worth more than £100 million from MSP Sports Capital over the summer to help finance the Bramley-Moore Dock stadium, plus further debts of £280,892,048, the lion’s share of which is due to visual and media rights.

Financial sources close to the stadium believe the new loans have saddled Everton with record-breaking interest payments worth around £30 million a year.

That equates to interest payments of around £575,000 per week for Moshiri. Football finance sources believe that the interest on the MSP Sports Capital loan alone could cost £10 million a year.

Everton repaid £20.7 million annual interest payments in 2021-22 as a result of the stadium loans. The latest financial results showed that Everton made an operating loss of £24.5m in 2022 – their fifth in a row.

Spokespeople for 777 Capital Partners told Mail Sport they were ‘confident that the funds were in place for the deal to go ahead and debts to be paid off.’

They aim to appoint two board members and want the club to be self-sufficient.

Their offer does not include Chairman Bill Kenwright’s shares and his future remains unclear.

777 would not confirm where their funding ultimately came from and whether Everton’s debts would be fully repaid or paid off. They were also unable to provide any guarantees about the future ownership of the club’s new stadium.

Concerned sources pointed out that 777 Capital Partners this week begged supporters of Genoa – one of the other clubs – to fund a new £5 million training ground through a bond scheme.

Their £40m takeover of Standard Liege was also done in phased payments, while payments to take over Hertha Berlin for £15m, plus debt written off, came late.

A statement from 777 Capital Partners said they expected the sale of Everton to be completed before the end of the year.

It said: ‘Completion of the transaction is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2023 and remains subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Premier League, the Football Association and the Financial Conduct Authority.’

However, the Premier League told Mail Sport that they could make no guarantees on a timeframe for the deal.

The Premier League’s tightened rules give them the right to block deals if the owners are under investigation for certain offences, including fraud. It is understood that 777 Capital Partners is subject to active proceedings for such violations – which are denied by the firm and remain unproven.

A spokesperson for 777 said the allegations were part of a corporate claim against some of the 60 companies that co-founders Josh Wander and Steve Pasco own and that they have not been personally sued.

Wander has strongly denied any involvement in loan contracts that led to the lawsuits and has expressed condolences for the alleged victims.

The Premier League will also investigate where their money comes from.

The Premier League’s rules are much stricter than those in other leagues around the world – so despite 777 Capital Partners having passed ownership tests in other countries, there is no guarantee that the Everton deal will be given the green light.

The mystery also continues to surround image and media rights.

Sources close to the company this week were unwilling to reveal the identity of the ultimate source of their money.

West Ham and Nottingham Forest have also borrowed millions from the lender, which is not registered with regulator the Financial Conduct Authority and has no employees, website or telephone number.