Everton receive huge financial boost over new stadium | OneFootball

Everton expect to save tens of millions of pounds a year in debt repayments after agreeing a £350m package to refinance the costs incurred building their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

New owners The Friedkin Group arranged the deal with investment bank JP Morgan and claimed it was “oversubscribed multiple times”.

Everton will move into their £800m stadium on the Liverpool waterfront next season but were paying high interest rates on the loans former majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri took out to pay for its construction.

Moshiri had originally pledged to pay for the 52,888-seater arena – which took four years to build – himself but the situation changed after Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022 meant his business partner and Everton sponsor Alisher Usmanov was sanctioned.

Everton borrowed from Rights and Media Funding, MSP Sports Capital and 777 Partners, the investment firm who attempted to buy the club before they collapsed.

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The stadium at Bramley-Moore dock hosted its firs test event last month (Getty Images)

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The stadium is built on the Liverpool waterfront (Getty Images)

TFG have paid off the loan from Rights and Media and converted some of Everton’s debt into shares in the club but always intended to arrange a long-term refinancing package on lower interest rates.

A club statement said: “Everton Football Club has agreed long-term financing for its new stadium on Liverpool’s waterfront.

“The funding, totalling £350m, is from a consortium of blue-chip institutional lenders, refinancing borrowing that supported the completion of the 52,888-capacity Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. The offering was oversubscribed multiple times, ensuring competitive terms beneficial to Everton. The financing is part of The Friedkin Group’s commitment to strengthen and stabilise the club to provide the foundations for on-pitch success.

“As well as providing a new footballing home for Everton, the stadium will be a multi-purpose venue and cultural asset for the city of Liverpool, which is estimated to generate an additional £1.3bn of value for the local economy. The stadium has already been selected as a host venue for the UEFA European Championship in 2028, with a strong pipeline of additional revenue-generating non-football events in the works.”

The new stadium passed its first test event without a hitch last month as Everton hosted Wigan in an under-18s match, with a randomly selected 10,000 Evertonians handed tickets to the event.

Everton are also expected to soon appoint a new chief executive, with Leeds’ Angus Kinnear the favourite for the job, while director of football Kevin Thelwell is set to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season.