How Liverpool City Council fit into Everton’s Bramley-Moore stadium move

Thursday 23^rd March 2017 will go down as a momentous day in the history of Everton Football Club. It was the day it took it’s the first step towards leaving Goodison Park.

Confirmed by both the club and Liverpool City Council, the Blues have agreed a deal to buy the land at Bramley-Moore dock, upon which they intend to build a ‘landmark’ stadium.

The deal is a complicated one, to say the least, and both statements from the club and LCC, while doing their best to explain things, were not very clear to anyone who isn’t an expert in finance.

Luckily here at RoyalBlueMersey we’ve got you covered and we’ve outlined exactly what will go down:

• Everton have agreed to buy the land at Bramley-Moore dock from Peel Holdings, with a fee of £22.5 million being reported, subject to planning permission and finance being agreed.
• The club has also agreed a finance package with Liverpool City Council (LCC) that will see the council guaranteeing the deal for a stadium.
• Everton will have to go out and find the funds for the project, likely to be £300 million upwards, from either one source or various sources (The Lender).
• When they do find those funds, LCC will act as guarantors for the loans through something called a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
• As mayor Joe Anderson puts it;

• LCC WILL NOT provide money to the club for the stadium. Instead, Everton will pay the SPV, who in turn will pay The Lender. As part of this deal, LCC will take a £4.4 million a year cut.
• The Lender will then lease the stadium to the SPV, which will then sub-lease it to Everton, for 40 years minus a day.
• Everton will then pay rent to the SPV, who will then pay The Lender, for that period of time before having the option to buy Bramley-Moore dock from The Lender.