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Financial expert Joe Beardwood believes the announcement that Farhad Moshiri has bought a large stake in Everton raises more questions than answers.

The Iranian-born billionaire, 60, has bought 49.9% of Everton shares after selling his stake in Premier League rivals Arsenal on Friday.

Lifelong Evertonian Beardwood, a former chief executive of Carling, offered a cautionary note though and said: “I’ve found the announcement this weekend interesting but to date it probably raises more questions than answers.

“Farhad Moshiri has 17,465 shares if you do the maths. The key question is who has he bought the shares from?

“True Blue Holdings as a pack must have owned somewhere in the region of 24,000 shares.

“Listed in the annual report in 2015, Bill [Kenwright] has 9,044 shares and Robert Earl had 8,146, so if you add that together it’s 17,190.

“(The late) Sir Philip Carter had 714 shares and Jon Woods had 6,622.

“So when I look at those numbers it sort of gives me the impression that three out of four of those tranches of shares have been acquired.”

He added: “If that’s the case and this is the bit that people sometimes get carried away with, if Robert Earl had a £10million investment in Everton then it would seem that he’s sold that - but we don’t know for how much because it’s a private transaction.

“In terms of Everton, the club is no better off. There’s been no indication that there’s any extra money for players, a stadium project or whatever.

“All this announcement says is that 17,465 shares have traded hands. It doesn’t tell us whose 17,465 shares have been sold, it just tells us who has acquired them.

“It also doesn’t tell us the price at which those 17,465 shares have been acquired.

“For illustration, if you believe the initially reported figure that they were sold for £175million – although a lot of subsequent reports are now saying it was nowhere near that – then you’re looking at £10,000 a share but we don’t know that figure.”

Beardwood stresses that this is not a takeover given that Mr Moshiri, while now the single biggest shareholder in Everton, does not possess a majority stake in the club.

He said: “Every wealthy, successful businessman I’ve known will try and do two things to start off. First is to take 51% because they want ultimate control to call the shots. I think it’s very interesting that he’s taken 49.9% and not 51% and what the thinking is behind that.

“In the plc (public limited company) world there’s something called a ‘squeeze out’ so there are rules about what level of shares that somebody needs to acquire before they have to make an offer for everyone else’s shares. If somebody acquires 90% by value then they’ve got to buy all the shareholders out.

“Everton’s isn’t a public company and Mr Moshiri is nowhere near that amount anyway but the figure of 49.9% seems significant.

“What we don’t know is whether this is just his first purchase and he will in time make an offer to other shareholders to gain ultimate control.

“If you’re going to want to start pumping money into an equity you’ve got to own that equity. It’s just too risky otherwise unless you’ve got the majority controlling stake.”

Bearwood also finds it unfathomable that for all his significant personal fortune, Mr Moshiri would pump large amounts into Everton without possessing a majority stake.

He said: “I can’t see how Mr Kenwright could have been given assurances about investment at this stage.

“It’s like me saying to someone ‘come in, take 49.9% of my company, we’re still in charge and we’ve still got the company balance sheet.’

“There’s no discussion because if you say to the new shareholder ‘you’ve got to put money in’ then the new shareholder would say back to me ‘then so have you.’

“Let’s say they’re going to build a new stadium for £200million then the other 51% have to say ‘we’ll put our hands in our pockets as well and will match the investment.’

“There’s no way those discussions could have taken place.”

Beardwood added: “In the past Bill Kenwright, Robert Earl, Jon Woods and Sir Philip Carter had 24,126 shares which was a 68.9% stake of Everton Football Club.

“That meant in terms of driving a strategy, appointing the chief executive, money that was going to be borrowed or whatever, they had complete control of the club.

“With Mr Moshiri acquiring 49.9% I think it would be highly unlikely that he would have gone to other, lesser, shareholders and purchased their shares.

“In the past there were people like Arthur Abercrombie and Lord Grantchester, who I think have about two-and-a-half-thousand shares and then there are the minority shares. I’ve got two shares but nobody has come to me and said ‘I want to buy your shares off you.’

Guesswork and speculation

“I think the deal has been done in that 69%. When I add the numbers up, how do I get to 17,465? It’s the Bill Kenwright shares, plus the Robert Earl shares, plus the Sir Philip Carter shares is 17,800, so it’s there or thereabouts.

“Maybe Bill has said ‘I’ll keep three or four hundred shares and I’ll sell you eight and a half thousand of my shares.’

“In some ways, in terms of the P and L (Profit and Loss) balance sheet and everything else, absolutely nothing seems to have changed at Everton other than Mr Kenwright and Mr Carter’s shares are in the hands of somebody different.

“Until a majority shareholder talks about a strategy and a plan then it’s all guesswork and speculation.”

Beardwood added: “I’d be staggered and amazed if anything significant financially in terms of players happened as a result of this first acquisition. This first step doesn’t change the landscape that much.

“Mr Moshiri has not come out and said ‘I’m about to spend £500million, £200million, £100million or even £75million on Everton’s infrastructure.’ So far there’s been no announcement on that whatsoever.

“What we do know is that 17,465 shares have changed hands.”