The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

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Everton
Vibrac, JG Funding and Riverdance: the
mystery of Everton’s ‘shadow investor’
An MP’s question in October detailed rumours of Sir Phillip Green’s involvement at Goodison, but is
there any connection between the retail magnate and companies who have lent millions of pounds to
Premier League clubs?
New Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, left, purchased 49.9% of the club in March but
Bill Kenwright remains on the board. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
After almost two hours being interrogated on everything from the details of Sam Allardyce’s contract
to homophobia at October’s culture, media and sport select committee inquiry, question 90 was the
curveball the Football Association chairman Greg Clarke certainly wasn’t expecting.
Switching his attention to ownership of football clubs, Chris Matheson, the MP for Chester and an
Everton season ticket holder, asked Clarke if he had ever heard of Vibrac Corporation. Between 2011
and 2013 the company described by Bloomberg as a “closely held lender” based in the British Virgin
Islands was allowed to make millions of pounds in loans to Everton, West Ham, Fulham, Reading and
Southampton despite the mystery surrounding who actually owned the company.
Everton’s Farhad Moshiri to visit two sites for
proposed new stadium
Read more
Admitting he had not heard of Vibrac or BCR Sports – another company registered at the same
address, Vanterpool Plaza, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola, as entities linked to José Mourinho
and Cristiano Ronaldo, and owned by the former Everton director Robert Earl – Clarke could not
confirm the estimation that 57% of English league clubs are owned or receive finance from offshore
entities. But he did acknowledge “we need to make sure we know who they are, that they are people