Everton takeover update as ‘bad news’ shared regarding Michael Dell at Goodison Park

Matt Slater has shared a “bit of bad news” regarding Michael Dell’s involvement in George Downing and Andy Bell’s bid to takeover Everton.

Dell’s family office MSD Partners has backed Downing and Bell’s bid to acquire the Toffees and agreed to help support the pair should Farhad Moshiri agree to a period of exclusivity to close the deal [The Register, 10 June].

While this update has excited supporters and journalists alike in recent days, The Athletic’s Slater has insisted that Dell is “not riding” to the Toffees’ rescue as his company will be little more than a lender to this deal.

Speaking on The Toffee Blues YouTube channel (11 June) he said: “Michael Dell has absolutely no interest in owning sports teams, that’s now what this is about.

“MSD Partners, which is his initials, is a family office. They are a private equity firm and there is a lot of Dell money in there, but Michael Dell is not pouring over what they do, he’s not directing them and they have for the last few years among other things really got into lending money to English football clubs.

“They’re big into lending money, that’s what they’re interested in. They can’t therefore take stakes in clubs and the other thing to remember is they don’t want clubs to go bust.

“I can almost tell you one bit of bad news, Michael Dell is not riding to the rescue to buy Everton, but the good news is MSD Partners are quite good lenders, they’ve got quite a good track record.