It’s been eight months since 777 Partners received conditional approval from the Premier League to become Everton’s owners and started their investment into the club.
However, the Miami-based firm are yet to meet those conditions leaving the famous English club in limbo with questions swirling about the viability of the potential owners.
777 Partners initially expressed interest in a stake during the 2023 summer, and their renewed approach was swiftly wrapped up on September 15, 2023 when they signed an agreement to acquire Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% stake.
Everton have long sought investment, partly in order to free funding for their new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium in Liverpool. The club are struggling in the Premier League, having only escaped relegation on the final day of last season, and fans have grown restless around the club’s ownership.
Here’s what we know about 777 Partners and the other teams with which they are involved, while also assessing Everton’s previous ownership and history.
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Founded in 2015, 777 Partners describe themselves as a holding firm who are “fearless disruptors” in the investment landscape.
They provide accounting, finance, human resources, procurement, marketing, legal and technology services and analytics to their operating companies.
Bosses Josh Wander and Steve Pasko say they employed almost 2,000 people by 2022. Both founders previously worked for Florida investment firm SuttonPark Capital and they moved their new company from New York to Miami in 2016.
777 Partners have since broadened their fields to encompass sports, media and entertainment, aviation, insurance, financial technology and litigation.
The first football club they invested in was Spanish side Sevilla, who have dominated the UEFA Europa League in recent seasons, and they hold controlling stakes in Genoa (Italy), Vasco da Gama (Brazil), Melbourne Victory (Australia), Standard Liege (Belgium), Red Star (France) and Hertha BSC (Germany).
Describing their values on their website, 777 Partners say they take “full accountability” for their actions. “We act like owners and operate with high integrity in everything we do, seeking to have a positive and enduring impact on the people and communities we serve,” they add.
“We are entrepreneurs who serve entrepreneurs. We seek growth and understanding and have the tenacity, ingenuity, and agility to entrepreneurially build businesses and are willing to get our hands dirty in the process.
“We win together with care, consideration, and empathy for the wellbeing of our partners and people by building lasting relationships of trust. We align incentives and operate with shared goals with our investors, employees, and partners.”
They are said to manage more than $6 billion (£4.8bn) in assets, and they spent $8.7m (£7m) on a 45% stake in the British Basketball League in 2021, having previously invested in one of the teams in the competition, London Lions. The company’s net worth is valued at around $12bn (£9.63bn).
Alongside representatives from clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Manchester City, Wander is one of the newest appointments to the board of the hugely influential European Clubs Association.
In March, Bloomberg reported that 777 Partners held early talks with PCP Capital Partners, the venture capital firm of Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley.
PCP was said to be considering investing in the US firm’s multi-club model, which the report said could have potentially included funding from Magpies owners the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. No deal was ever reached.
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As of May 2024, 777 Partners are yet to meet the conditions outlined by the Premier League in their conditional approval of their Everton ownership.
The firm initially held talks over acquiring a 25% stake in Everton earlier in 2023 and entered a period of exclusivity with MSP Sports Capital (MSP).
The talks collapsed when one of Everton’s lenders, Rights and Media Funding Limited, opposed the move, the Guardian reported.
The UK newspaper said that 777 Partners’ interest in fully buying the club was another sign of their desire to own a Premier League team following talks with Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly in 2023.
The current takeover attempt is subject to the Premier League’s owners and directors test, which was enhanced in March 2023 and allows for the disqualifying of directors.
The Guardian reported that there are “doubts” over whether 777 Partners would pass the test because they were accused of fraud and breach of contract in a civil case by Timothy O’Neil-Dunne, an employee at the firm between 2018 and 2021, and previously as chief commercial officer at Flair Airlines. A statement released by 777 Partners strenuously denied the allegations.
Wander was also arrested in 2003 over 31 grams of cocaine that were sent to his address in the post, which he later admitted was for him and a friend.
He was sentenced the following year on a parole that ended in 2017, calling the situation a “stupid college thing” in an interview with the Financial Times.
“All of the success that I’ve had has been in spite of the fact that every time I’ve tried to do something, somebody brings that up and throws it in my face,” he said.
“And when I got involved in investing in sports, it became a perfect opportunity for those people that are haters to try to destroy you with things that are somewhat meaningless.”
777 Partners has been in the news recently with a number of accusations made against the company, while an airline they own – Australia-based Bonza – has also ceased operations.
On May 5, it was reported by the Australian Financial Review that a number of lenders to 777 Partners had made allegations of fraud against the business in a complaint filed in New York federal court.
Earlier, on April 30, Australia low-cost airline Bonza – whose parent company is 777 Partners – entered voluntary administration with all of their aircraft grounded and services immediately suspended.
As of May 7, Bonza owes money to 60,000 customers, hundreds of staff and 120 suppliers with administrators Hall Chadwick appointed the business.
Moshiri, a British-Iranian businessman, has concluded a seven-and-a-half-year tenure at Goodison Park.
The Monaco-based 68-year-old had been trying to sell some of his 94.1% stake in the club to recapitalise the club, and his total financial commitment has been £830m ($1.04bn), according to Toffeeweb.
