Moshiri lands a loan for stadium

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

Sportsmail 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 season-ticket 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.