Everton moving closer to Kenyon-consortium takeover

The Peter Kenyon-led consortium currently in talks with the Everton Board are moving closer to taking over the club. The group, who have signed heads of terms and have also gotten a period of exclusivity, are targeting the Toffees United States preseason tour as the date by which they can have the sale settled.

Real estate tycoon Maciek Kaminski (said to prefer the nickname “MG”) is based in Minneapolis and with the Blues scheduled to take on Minnesota United on July 21st, would like to introduce himself in person to manager Frank Lampard and the playing squad.

The Telegraph, who have been ‘in the know’ throughout the takeover conversation, reported earlier today that there has been more forward progress in the talks.

“Those discussions remain on track and Kaminski, the chief executive of Talon Real Estate, has travelled to England to meet current majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri in person and has visited the site at Bramley-Moore Dock, where Everton’s new £500million stadium will be built which Kaminski has made a commitment to fund.

“An outline price, in excess of £500m, has already been agreed in principle for the sale of Everton to the consortium, which is made up of the Kaminski family, Kenyon and American businessman John Thornton, and covers the club’s debt.

“The group have also promised there will be funds made available, within Financial Fair Play guidelines, for Lampard to spend and are keen to push the takeover through in time to have a proper run at the second half of the summer transfer window.”

Everton are in a position where they are having to sell key assets in order to purchase players to beef up Lampard’s squad, with Richarlison looking closer and closer to an exit, likely to Tottenham.

There has been some talk that the Blues will need to move out the Brazilian international by the end of the month (Thursday, June 30) since that also marks the close of the financial year. The significance of the date is that Everton can then claim the proceeds from that sale as part of their 2021-22 accounting and thus realize a profit for the first time in three years, which would go a long way towards easing the tightening knot of Premier League Profit and Sustainability regulations around the club’s coffers.

While current majority shareowner Farhad Moshiri has never skimped on spending money, it’s how the money has been spent that has been most galling for the fans. The team he put in place both at Board and club executive level have certainly done a lot to increase the club’s visibility and brought in sponsorship, but the errant spending has negated any benefits derived from that.

Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images

For the new owners to promise Director of Football Kevin Thelwell funds for this summer’s transfer window, they will need to have a number of sponsorships already lined up so that they can show on the balance sheet that the club’s income has risen, which will then allow the Toffees to spend in a commensurate way.

It is also very interesting to see how the consortium is keeping all their dealings with the club very public, in this case using The Telegraph as a means of communication with the fans. This has been a hallmark of Kenyon’s with the mainstream media very knowledgeable of the goings-on when he orchestrated Newcastle United and Chelsea takeover bids.

More to come on this, it looks like.