Everton hold London takeover meetings as Moshiri edges closer to offloading club

Peter Kenyon's American consortium took a small step closer to buying Everton, after financial meetings in London today.

We understand the group which is fronted by the former Manchester United and Chelsea CEO have expressed a serious interest in buying out owner Farhad Moshiri, following an initial examination of the club's operations.

They have signed an exclusivity agreement, which technically precludes talks with other parties, but have so far not entered a period of due diligence, which would indicate an even more serious intent.

The finance for Kenyon's group is provided by Minneapolis-based property and investment tycoon Maciek Kaminski - an American-Polish businessman who was in London for talks - and gold-mining billionaire John Thornton, who has controversial links with former President Trump and his former adviser Steve Bannon.

Lawyers for Moshiri were present in the meeting, which examined the club's operations with Goodison officers, and further talks are slated for the coming days.

The Mirror revealed on Monday there were FOUR interested parties in buying Moshiri's stake in the club, which we understand would be valued at in excess of £550m.

Any buyer would also be forced to pick up the fixed term contract which has been signed with construction firm Laing O'Rourke to build their new stadium, which would amount to another £500m+.

That would put a price tag of more than £1.1bn for the Merseyside club, but would still mean a loss for Moshiri, who has sunk more than £600m into Everton since he bought a controlling interest in 2016.

Moshiri has held talks with other parties, and can return to them if there is no progress in his meetings with the American group.

Little is known of Kaminski, who founded Kaminski Asset Management in 1996, and is based in Minnesota. Thornton is a former co-president of Goldman Sachs, and currently executive chairman of Barrick Gold, a large mining company, but has been criticised for his links with Trump and the Chinese government.