Moshiri buys bulk of England soccer club

October 05, 2018

Iranian-British businessman Farhad Moshiri has in-creased his ownership stake in the English soccer club Everton, based in Liverpool, from less than half to more than two-thirds.
Moshiri sold his stake in Arsenal to become Everton’s major shareholder in early 2016, securing 49.9 percent of the club. Everton says Moshiri has purchased another 18.7 percent of the shareholding and “is expected to increase to 77.2 percent no later than July 2019.”
Moshiri has invested heavily in the playing squad in his two-year tenure and is funding the building of a new 300 million pound ($385 million) stadium on the Mersey River.
Founded in 1878, Everton, a nine-time English league champion, hasn’t won a major trophy since 1995. It is seventh in the 20-club Premier League after four games this season with two wins and two ties.
Moshiri, 63, who lives in Monaco, has personal wealth of $1.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He owns numerous steel and energy companies in Britain and Russia. An accountant by training, he met Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov in the early 1990s and then became his minority partner in several projects.