Moshiri lands a loan for stadium

EVERTON have secured a ‘substantial’ loan to help cover the cost of building Bramley Moore Dock Stadium.

Mail Sport can reveal Everton owner Farhad Moshiri completed a deal this week through Ormskirkbased venture capital company Blythe Capital after a year of work to secure funding.

It comes just days after MSP Sports Capital secured a ‘period of exclusivity’ to explore options on a deal to fund the stadium build.

Blythe Capital is owned by Andrew Bell, founder of investment platform AJ Bell. He is believed to be an Everton seasonticket holder. It is understood Blythe are acting as the broker and are not putting in cash themselves.

Sources close to the club believe Moshiri has committed £450million to the new stadium, leaving a £300million funding shortfall.

Sources close to Everton maintain that Moshiri is not looking to sell the club, but is exploring the possibility of selling a minority stake.

Moshiri said earlier this year that he was close to a deal, explaining: ‘The club is not for sale, but I have been talking to top investors of real quality to bridge a gap on the stadium. I can do it myself; the reason I want to do it is to bring top sport investors into Everton for some of the reasons the fans want: improvement; more talent.

‘We are close to having a deal done. It is not selling the club at all, it is just bringing more expertise in terms of global sponsorship, commercial development and a lot of specialist sport investors have this pool of knowledge.’

Everton were approached for comment.