Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Who is Vatche Manoukian? London businessman eyes Everton takeover with £400m bid

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Vatche Manoukian has become the latest contender to plot a takeover bid at Everton.

The Athletic reports a group of international investors led by London-based businessman Manoukian has joined the increasingly crowded field of potential new owners of the Blues by making a £400million all-equity bid. Their article adds that the frontrunners, certainly in terms of fan sentiment, are British businessmen and lifelong Evertonians Andy Bell and George Downing.




They are already part of a group led by US investment firm MSP Sports Capital that lent Everton £158million last year, so they have the added incentive of trying to protect their existing investment in the club. Their bid, which was lodged last week, is a mix of fresh equity and a £350million loan secured on the club’s new stadium that would refinance Everton’s existing debts and that loan would be provided by the merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners, which was originally set up to invest American IT billionaire Michael Dell’s wealth.

Confusingly, the third bid is from Bell and Downing’s partners, MSP Sports Capital, as the New York-based fund has put together a new group with a view to taking full control of the club. This bid is believed to be a complex mix of equity and debt.

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However, alongside this trio, there are also the likes of John Textor and Dan Friedkin, two American businessmen who have already built multi-club groups. While these figures are all relatively well-known, Manoukian, the latest name to emerge has a lower profile.

Here is a look at who he is. The son of a Lebanese-born entertainment and property tycoon of the same name from the Armenian diaspora in Beirut, Manoukian is a partner in global technology investment firm IMS Digital Ventures and his bid group includes investors from the Gulf and United States.

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