777 Partners - Revised Poll Added 07/05/2024

[RomanReigns]

So 777 have basically done the equivalent of me looking at £50.00 in my bank account and going to a Ferrari dealership with the intention of coming home with a Ferrari

 

[jazzy]

Only Mosh & Bill could enter in to negotiations with a buyer who’s essentially skint

Happy Days

Kenwright has form for this. I wonder if 777 are based in someone's bedroom?

 

[D410]

Sounds like we are buying limited time to flush out other buyers.

 

[Dublin blue 75]

Well waddya know

A grown man who wears a baseball cap with a tailored jacket is to be viewed as suspicious.

 

[mahermi1]

Kenwright has form for this. I wonder if 777 are based in someone's bedroom?

Or in a Hospital were allegedly were he's been the last transfer window..

 

[matty1878]

Nah mate. We're well past that point now. The two morons running us now will kill Everton if they aren't forced out. 777 is defo the lesser of two evils. Its like being on a plane thats plummeting toward earth and getting offered a parachute by a widely known spiv. You know he's dodgy as hell, and there's a very good chance that the parachute might not open at all but its a choice between taking a chance that will lead to either a surprisingly positive outcome (or at least a quick end) or just accepting death.

we gotta hope more party’s get interested

no way do we/should we sell to 777

 

[Ruairi77]

Just dont think they have the cash to fix this mess , if they came in just looks like we would still have the same problems

thats my thinking, plus ticket price increases, all sorts of content access costs, eventually continually being pushed with 'Bundle your everton membership with true blue house and car insurance'. Or 'sign up now for toffee data'.
We'd become the ryanair of football clubs.

 

[Martin Alvito]

I've seen a lot of stuff about 777 and their net worth. But when they have reported worth of 8bn in assets, doesn't that include all the other clubs they own combined? Wonder how much liquid assets they have.
And if Everton are successful under them, is any profit directed straight to their struggling assets and not reinvested in the club.
Basically, success for them is stabilizing the club and using any surplus funds to stabilize their other assets, then look for big buyers.
This is the best case scenario.
Are they better than the current mess? I'd probably take them over the Saudi government, but thats not a high bar.

Assets under management (AUM) are not necessarily owned by a fund. 777 claims that there are no third party investors, which is technically accurate by definition, but it's also something of a specious claim. As an example, the subsidiary that manages the airplanes the fund owns is supposedly 51% owned by 777 and 49% owned by the management team. That's consistent with the US Code definition of third party investors, since the management team provides the services of the business, but it also means that 777 only owns half the assets.

It also doesn't account for whatever liabilities 777 has. Where does their money come from, if not banks and investors? Let's look at this Genoa bond issue that's in the press for a second. They're looking to raise five million from small-time investors who are fans by paying 9% interest with a minimum issue of one thousand euros. AAA bonds in the US are yielding five percent right now, according to Moody's. Looks like a great deal, right?

It's not. Reality is that what they're doing has to be capitalizing on fans' ignorance of 777's capital position. They're paying a junk bond rate. Why would they go to the supporters and pay that rate? Because they would have to pay more than nine percent in capital markets. Servicing all those little bonds doesn't come free, either. Translation: they're leveraged to the hilt.

The investigation into the relationships with their airlines is instructive. In light of the reports on the leases, the business model there appears to be: sell junk bond, buy distressed airline at a cut-rate, force airline to pay exorbitant leasing rates that will cause airline to fail during the next downturn, extract enough on the spread between the junk bond rate and the airline's lease to come out ahead, relative to the purchase price. Rinse and repeat until wealthy, by exploiting informational advantages against bond purchasers (there are ways to end run the SEC's scrutiny in private sales) and US bankruptcy code in extremis.

Others have remarked that it looks like a giant money laundering scheme, which I will concede is plausible given that the model survived COVID. Whatever kept them afloat came from somewhere. If that's the case, money goes in dirty in the bond purchases and comes out clean in the form of interest paid. What I will say there is that it would be weird for an old guy with Steven Pasko's CV to get mixed up in that. Wharton, Salomon Brothers and Drexel Burnham Lambert screams junk bond financier, not front for a drug kingpin. It's possible that he figures he won't be around to pay the piper, or that he'll be a short-timer if he is, but what I can turn up from Google in terms of court cases, SEC filings for the exemptions and the like says 'shady' rather than 'dirty' to me.

 

[matty1878]

Well waddya know

good

 

[Bluedyhell]

Spot on.

Well said. Hit, nail and head.

 

[PeregrineT]

So Esk was right. Bow down and apologise, Esk is ours

Esk said 777 were buying the club, so is he right?

 

[Toffeeslam]

These 777 partners were never going to get this over the line….they are skint by all accounts so how they got to advance negotiations stage (if what’s reported is true) is embarrassing.

Someone mentioned other interested parties, is that true ?

 

[Tony’s Carp]

A grown man who wears a baseball cap with a tailored jacket is to be viewed as suspicious.

Gives off absolutely massive Kendall Roy vibes.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Based on current estimations of a completion date we've still got circa 14 months of the build left. I think you're vastly underestimating how much there is still left to do.

We might not be half way through but we're much closer to half built than nearly finished.

We are way past half way mate, we moved fish and other stuff, drained the dock and cleared the area. Filled in the dock and built every side and most of the roof is complete

 

[Runub]

I surprised we haven’t attracted any decent buyers over the years. I know we are a bit of a basket case of late but we must still be an attractive investment to someone sensible surely