Everton investors whose stakes were diluted after Dan Friedkin’s takeover have seen the value of their shares plummet.
The Friedkin Group acquired all of Farhad Moshiri’s shares in December 2024 in a deal that valued the club at around £800m, though the vast majority of that total was wrapped up in debt, with Moshiri himself receiving just a pittance for the club on which he had squandered hundreds of millions.
The Friedkins have since restructured the debt on more favourable terms, freeing up resources to compete in the transfer and wage markets, as well as to realise the full value the Hill Dickinson Stadium. And with the Toffees now unburdened by any major anxieties around PSR, the future looks bright.
Indeed, the new Premier League Squad Cost Ratio rules coming into force next season should favour Everton far more than the previous system by virtue of being based on revenue, not profit.
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On the pitch, David Moyes’ side are withing touching distance of European football next season.
Victory over Chelsea at the weekend could move them into the Conference League spots, depending on results elsewhere. Should Friedkin-owned AS Roma – who are currently 6th in Serie A – also qualify for the Conference League, there could be a conflict of interest issue.
The club has not yet confirmed whether or not the necessary changes, which UEFA asked all clubs to enact before 1 March, have been made. But should Everton get European football for the first time in almost a decade, supporters might file that under ‘nice problem to have’.
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All in all, things are positive on Bramley Moore Dock – unless, perhaps, you happen to be one of the few thousand minority investors whose shareholding has nosedived in value.
Most investors who own these shares are supporters and, while most have invested for sentimental reasons and don’t anticipate a meaningful financial return, there are some who expressed concern about being diluted in the Friedkins’ takeover.
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Those fears have now been realised. Auctions take place periodically on the Asset Match platform, and the first one post-takeover earlier this month saw the sale price fall to £600, down from £3,400 in the previous auction in November 2024.
£600 per share implies a valuation of about £1.3bn for Everton. And while tiny share sales like this would never be used to scientifically arrive at the true value of a club, that figure is much closer to how the market appraises Everton than the £7.5bn that the previous auction implied.
“The Friedkin Group acquired Moshiri’s shares, and the subsequent increase in share capital meant the Everton fan shareholders were diluted,” explains University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Everton News.
“As somebody who has presented to the Everton Shareholders Association at Goodison Park, these people have a strong emotional investment in the club and see themselves as the guardians of Evertonian values. That will be their role going forward. It’s more of an heirloom, a role for someone who wants to preserve what the club is about.”
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Dan Friedkin.
“You have to have some disposable income to buy these shares,” Maguire continued, profiling the kind of fan and investor who owns the shares.
“They do get to attend the AGM and hold the board to account. But football is a loss-making business; you’re not going to make a profit on these shares.”
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