Attempting to buy Everton has put 777 Partners “in the spotlight” and contributed to their funding structure starting to “unravel”, according to the Financial Times.
The paper reported via their website on 12 March that the company have used Bermuda-based 777 Re to “funnel money invested for widows and orphans into the sport” by buying stakes in various clubs, but under the increased scrutiny of journalists, regulators, politicians and ratings agencies sources close to the company have denied the set-up has begun to fall apart.
777 have not disclosed how it will fund the Toffees takeover, amid a six month wait for a verdict from the Premier League and millions provided to the club in loans, but “people close to the deal” told the FT that 777 Re was “not essential” to the English bid, with an entity called Nutmeg Acquisitions to be used for the purchase.
However according to the report, under “scrutiny of 777 Re’s lending to Nutmeg, people close to 777 insisted that separate financing plans were in place”.
Everton takeover a bridge too far for 777 Partners?
There is little trust in the Premier League among Evertonians currently, and for good reason after the profit and sustainability sanctions saga only for the regulatory system to now be on the brink of being scrapped.
But if the picture of 777 being a complex web of entities lending money to each other that themselves are often using outside sources of funding, as has been reported previously, then perhaps it is little surprise that the regulators haven’t been able to accurately assess their suitability.
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