Keith Wyness reveals the truth on Friedkin debt bombshell from Everton
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has backed The Friedkin Group’s (TFG) move to raise debt at the club.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – insisted the move will “lessen the burden on the club” and is “what any prudent owner would do”.
Bloomberg reported last week (5 December) that TFG is in talks with JP Morgan Chase & Co. about raising debt to help restructure Everton’s current loans of more than £660million.
The American firm agreed a takeover deal to purchase owner Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1 per cent stake in the club back in September.
Friedkin, chairman and CEO of Texas-based TFG, is currently waiting to receive regulatory approval from the Premier League, Football Association and Financial Conduct Authority before he can finalise the deal.
Everton debt restructure is ‘what any prudent owner would do’, says Wyness
Wyness insisted raising debt “makes all the sense in the world”.
He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “It’s what any prudent owner would want to do.
“He wants to come in and reorganise the debt, lessen the burden on the club.
“I think a lot of it was at pretty high interest rates. This is what someone like Friedkin can do.
“Doing this, alongside the new revenue streams coming with the stadium, should give Everton the freedom to rebuild the squad and move things forward.
“The two things combined – greater revenue and lesser costs, will help in any business.
“This makes all the sense in the world.
“He will have adopted three or four lots of debt with the takeover, and now he and JPMorgan will be restructuring that and probably spreading it over a longer period at a lower interest rate.
“Given his own credentials, his creditworthiness and the new revenue at Everton – they’ll be able to get a fairly attractive rate.
“It smooths the whole situation and means Everton aren’t under so much debt pressure.”
In other news, Friedkin hatches plan to keep Calvert-Lewin at Everton.
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