Private equity fund 777 Partners is reportedly looking to expand its portfolio of football clubs through an investment in English Premier League club Everton. The fund is said to be talking to the club about taking a minority stake, but a formal offer is not thought to have been made to date.
The Miami-based investment firm has already invested in Italian Serie B club Genoa – Italy’s oldest professional football club – Rio-based Brazilian club Vasco de Gama, Standard Liege of the Belgian Pro League and Red Star FC – France’s fourth-oldest professional club. It also has small stakes in Spanish LaLiga club Sevilla and Melbourne Victory in Australia’s A-League.
777 Partners was founded in 2015 and is led by managing partners Steven Pasko and Josh Wander.
Everton’s majority shareowner Farhad Moshiri is looking to raise funds ahead of the building of a new GBP500m stadium on Liverpool’s waterfront. In January, Moshiri was said to be in talks with US investment firm MSP Capital.
Moshiri has engaged investment banks MUFG and JP Morgan Chase to help identify potential investors.