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Spotlight on US firm 777 Partners linked with Sheffield United and West Ham takeover interest
Sheffield United’s takeover saga took a fresh twist yesterday after US investment firm 777 Partners was credited with showing interest. It’s being reported that the Blades are an option for the group, who were previously keen to acquire Everton. But who are they and what do we know about them?
Based in Miami, the company was co-founded in 2015 by Josh Wander and Steve Pasko. The private equity investment firm has a varied portfolio of investments, from sports and entertainment to aviation and financial technology. It’s believed they have more than $6bn in assets under management.
Their modus operandi is to provide growth capital for the businesses that they invest in and to lend expertise to unlock latent value in the markets in which they sit.
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It’s their sporting ventures that are of interest to Sheffield United fans, though, and they have a global portfolio of footballing investments that span across Europe and South America.
They are currently the owners of Italian side Genoa, Vasco de Gama in Brazil, Standard Liege in Belgium, Red Star in France, Melbourne Victory in Australia and Hertha Berlin in Germany, their most recent acquisition.
It’s not been the best of seasons for the majority of their clubs, with Genoa the only one to taste success.
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They finished the season promoted back to Serie A following last season’s relegation, while Vasco de Gama are currently third bottom of the Brazilian top flight after eight games. Red Star just missed out on promotion to Ligue 2 in France and Melbourne Victory finished second bottom.
Standard Liege finished sixth in Belgium’s top flight and went into the Conference League play-off group but Hertha were relegated after finishing bottom of the Bundesliga. However, they did not add them to their portfolio until March with the club already looking doomed.
As well as those controlling stakes, they also have a minority stake in Spanish side Sevilla.
Last month, 777 was reported, via Bloomberg, to have held what were described as ‘exploratory talks’ with Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners with a view to PCP investing into the US firm’s multi-club model, a model that Newcastle are exploring as a growth strategy.
According to Bloomberg, talks were only understood to be at a very early stage. 777’s interest in Sheffield United is exactly that. Interest. It is not thought to be anything more than exploratory at this stage. United are owned by a similar model with United World, but with clubs on a much smaller scale.
The news comes as current owner Prince Abdullah has made it clear he is open to a sale as he explores his options. He revealed in an interview with SUTV from United World’s Geneva base that he ‘put in and borrowed’ all he could last season as United struggled with well-publicised financial issues.
United’s promotion to the Premier League makes them more attractive than ever, particularly to investors in the US, who see the Premier League as their number one destination.
The club has been previously linked with an American consortium of Silicon Valley-based private investors and was the subject of an attempt by Nigerian businessman Dozy Mmobuosi that has so far failed to bear fruit.
