Maciek Kaminski, the American/Polish real estate tycoon who had sought to purchase Everton earlier this year, has acquired his first football club and been linked with investment into another.
Kaminski was part of a consortium that initially featured former Manchester United CEO Peter Kenyon and US oil magnate John Thornton back in June, the trio having entered into an exclusivity period with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri but unable to strike any deal, with Moshiri subsequently declaring his ongoing commitment to the Toffees.
The talks over a deal, which had arrived from Moshiri's desire to seek external investment to provide a capital injection in order to secure the required funding for the club's new stadium development at Bramley Moore Dock, were ended after the exclusivity period passed, with Kenyon and Thornton both stepping away from the consortia but Kaminski remaining.
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Sources have told the ECHO that Kaminski remains interested in investing in the club, although full takeover interest appears to have dimmed.
Central to the takeover talks with Everton were KAM Sports LLC, a Las Vegas-registered company set up by the Kaminski family earlier this year to act as the vehicle for a push towards multi-club ownership.
While the play for Everton ran aground, KAM Sports and Kaminski have landed on another club, clinching a full takeover of Greek Super League side Panetolikos after acquiring the majority shareholding of former owner Fotis Kostoulos, the Agrinio-based side currently sitting seventh out of 14 in the league after 13 games this season.
Speaking at a press conference, flanked by his son, Matthew, Kaminski said: "We want to thank Mr Kostoulos for doing a fantastic job for the club.
"We are excited to be here and hopefully we will be helping everything on the club side to make it a little better. We want the city's support and the fans' support and we're going to do everything we can to make the club better every day. We want the team to be a winner."
Having landed on the deal for Panetolikos, the Kaminski's have also been linked with takeover talk in Spain, with Spanish newspaper Vozpopuli claiming that Atletico Madrid owner Miguel Angel Gil Marin had been in 'secret talks' with Kaminski, with Minneapolis-based real estate mogul having been pictured heading into the Wanda Metropolitano last week.
Following the story's initial publication another Spanish newspaper, Marca, attempted to pour cold water on the rumours, stating that it was a meeting unrelated to takeover talks. Sources have told the ECHO that any such link between the Kaminski group and Atletico Madrid is "purely speculative".
There are links with Gil Marin and Kaminski, however, with both associates of Kenyon.
Kenyon, who was the front man for the initial talks with Everton, has a long-standing business relationship with the Atletico Madrid majority shareholder and CEO and had been employed as an advisor to the club between 2014 and 2015. Kenyon, whose remit was to expand Atletico's global brand and presence, was seen as a success during his time as an advisor at the club having aided their pursuit of greater commercial revenues during his stint in the Spanish capital.
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