Newcastle owners may have found a bargain after Everton price and debt suggestion
It is approaching three years since Newcastle United's takeover - and the market suggests the Magpies' owners secured a relative bargain.
Those at the top stumped up £305m to take over debt-free Newcastle in 2021, which was little more than double the club's revenues in the final accounts of the Ashley era. For context, some Premier League sides have commanded valuations of between five and seven times' turnover in recent years.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, for instance, paid for £1.3bn to buy just a 27.7% stake in Manchester United while Chelsea's owners spent a whopping £4.25bn to purchase the club in 2022. Newcastle have a long way to go to reach those sorts of valuations but after inheriting a stripped back asset in deep relegation trouble, the value of the club has since soared. In fact, Adam Sommerfeld, a managing partner at Certus Capital Partners, who were involved in multiple takeover bids during the Ashley era, previously told ChronicleLive that 'general industry perception' values Newcastle at a figure above £800m.
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It is worth noting that Newcastle's owners have pumped in additional sums since the takeover - the Friedkin Group plan to do likewise at Everton - but the Toffees' purchase price will nonetheless dwarf the £305m the consortium paid nearly three years ago. A figure of up to £500m has been widely touted, which would factor in the club's outstanding debts, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained.
"If we take at the look of the borrowings of Everton Football Club, there's £200m to Rights & Media Funding," he outlined on the Price of Football. "There's £200m to 777. Whether they will get all of that due to outstanding complications? I'm not so sure. There's £200m to to the Friedkin Group so, clearly, that loan will either be converted into loans or it will be kicked down the road.
"So you have got to have probably £400m, £450m, and that would also allow Farhad Moshiri to walk away with something. His concern was he didn't want to walk away with nothing. He's put in £750m and he will probably walk away with £20m, £25m of that."