Bascombe- Americans to sell up?

[CAD]

So because Bascombe leaves Echo and starts at NOTW he has no cred. I find that statement moronic. I honestly do. All his connections and the people he knew are no longer to be trusted? His relationship with Moores?

I think some posters here have lost the plot. It might be a ****e paper this NOTW but get a ****ing grip and smell the ****ing coffee...in Brazil...

[Rashid]

New York Red - who has got virtually everything spot on about Hicks and Gillett over on YNWA is saying that Tom Hicks is "is now in the process of trying to refinance his entire sports entity and is lumping his 50% of LFC in with it. He'll package the whole thing together (the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, Liverpool FC the arenas etc), take them public, and pocket the cash to use for other stuff."

"Make eye contact, Tom and give us the real scoop. Are you in or not?"

The growing sense out of Anfield is that the American owners of Liverpool might be struggling to keep hold of the club. There are many worrying signs but chief amongst them is banks are increasingly cagey in giving out the full loan to finance the new stadium, relying more on a piecemeal approach. It looks increasingly likely that the financing for the stadium will be put on hold till 2009.

The owners have already reneged on their original promise to keep Liverpool from becoming another Man Utd and as in the case of the Glazers, rather than relying on their own assets, loans are now needed to finance Liverpool's buyout burdening it with debt. The huge interest repayments will eat a significant chunk of the revenues. More alarmingly, Hicks seems to have developed cold feet on the whole Liverpool financing ordeal and is seeking a takeover of his share.

For Hicks, Liverpool is another cog in the wheel. Soccerblog has documented his hard nosed business dealings in some detail. He is a legendary leveraged buyout specialist, buying piecemeal and then sell high. In the 90's, Hicks juggled a myriad of business ventures with his venture capital firm. He is a risk taker, a gambler, for other people's money, and he has a solid track record.

These however are changing times, the economic situation in the US has turned precarious with a jittery and volatile stock market reacting to the sub prime mortgage meltdown and the weakening dollar. Houses are being re-possessed as loan defaults escalate and banks investing in mortgage based securities are reporting massive losses. Morgan Stanley reported its first quarterly loss in 72 years and Bear Stearns is expected to follow suit. Citibank and Merrill Lynch's CEO recently resigned after billions of dollars in write downs following losses in the real estate market. In a worrying sign, analysts have not yet been able to gauge the extent of the damage but it is widely expected that the worst is yet to come. The Feds lowered the interest rate to shock the market back but it had the opposite effect as the reduction was considered paltry.

Hicks company, Hicks Holdings also owns the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Stars and a 50 percent stake in Liverpool Football Club. It also has a real estate unit and a business pursuing corporate acquisitions and real estate development in Argentina.

In this context, since buying out Liverpool with George Gillette in February, Tom Hicks has teamed up with Gatehouse Capital to develop hotels and luxury condominiums in Dallas and Los Angeles. He has also bought a 40% stake in Safemed, a company that optimizes clinical decisions based on a number of patient attributes.

In June 2007, Hicks entered the SPAC market. Special purpose acquisition companies are blank check or shell companies which raise money from the public with the sole mission of buying a company — whose identity is unknown at the time of the I.P.O. The deal making prowess of the manager is central to the perceived success of the SPAC. Hicks Investments, the SPAC started by Tom Hicks looks to raise $400m. He has since raised $552m but is still looking for a company to buyout. As per the IPO prospectus he has another year and a half to do this otherwise the SPAC will be liquidated and the money returned. SPACs are more transparent than most other investment strategies but the downside is that they ask investors to buy their stock on the strength of a management team, rather than a solid investment plan. They ask investors to provide them funds to invest in a company that has not yet been chosen. The risks therefore are considerable and not for the faint hearted. So far SPAC's have not been particularly successful in buying out companies.

Undoubtedly Tom Hicks is a successful deal maker and most of his investments have paid off but in the present uncertain financial state of the global markets and the recent risky investments that he has made, it is natural for banks to take a harder look at Liverpool's owners and decide whether they are doing the wise thing by loaning the money, to owners who might their own cash flow problems. Contrast this with Randy Lerner's low key buyout of Aston Villa where his own money guarantees a far more secure future.

[CAD]

If NYR says Hicks is looking for and exit then I believe there is something about it. He had great info on Kraft in the old days as well.

Maybe it's all for the best. Never did like Hicks.

Something is definitely going on. There is no way all this ****e would materialise out of nothing. Not for so long, from so many directions.

[Alpha]

New York Red - who has got virtually everything spot on about Hicks and Gillett over on YNWA is saying that Tom Hicks is "is now in the process of trying to refinance his entire sports entity and is lumping his 50% of LFC in with it. He'll package the whole thing together (the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, Liverpool FC the arenas etc), take them public, and pocket the cash to use for other stuff."

Thanks Rash.

You've been right on top of this whole issue and I, for one, really appreciate being kept up-to-date with what is being said and reported.



Until now, I've tried to reserve judgment and wait for the situation to iron itself out.

But now I'm starting to think I might be relieved if Hicks does sell up. That would, of course, depend on who he sold out too. Let's hope and pray it would be to a philanthropic white knight rather than another financial shark.

[CAD]

Yeah - thanks for all the updates Rashid

You make far more sense than nameless others in this thread. For me anyway...

[paulcooper4]

Mate.

What paper does he write for, and which paper *spit* is it's weekday equivalent?

[paulcooper4]

supposedly the son proposed in the middle of the pitch before the manc game. a priveledge not afforded to fellas been going for years like. **** off fat spoilt yank boy and stop taking the piss with this club.

[Armchairkopite]

supposedly the son proposed in the middle of the pitch before the manc game. a priveledge not afforded to fellas been going for years like. **** off fat spoilt yank boy and stop taking the piss with this club.

That really gets my ****ing goat that, ****ing pricks, this club is not your toy

[Rashid]

No problems lads... these two yanks seem to be totally wrong for us and our traditions. The two clowns who sold us to them should hang their heads in shame.

[AFII]

My guess is that DIC will buy the whole club before the February deadline if G&H are prepared to sell at a fair price.

Right now it looks like all they have to do is to wait until February because G&H probably don't have the cash they need.

[Rashid]

G+H won't want to sell, they will do whatever they can to hold on even if it means selling players. PL clubs will quadruple in value this next few years.

[AFII]

G+H won't want to sell, they will do whatever they can to hold on even if it means selling players. PL clubs will quadruple in value this next few years.

Sissoko £8m-£10m
Riise £6m
Carson £10m
Crouch £10m
Guthrie £3m-£4m

That would give them the £40m they need.

[Sir Bob]

I don't know how much smoke there is here and how much fire, but if G&H are known to be desperate to sell the club after just a few months and still expect to turn a healthy profit, then either they are financial geniuses or Moores was robbed.

Also, people seem pretty keen for DIC to ride to our rescue - what makes anyone believe that they are going to run the club any differently from G&H? I wouldn't expect any owner to lavish great wedges of their own personal wealth on us: even Moores didn't do that, and he certainly is a fan. It may have been just about affordable to win the league that way back in the days when Blackburn were contenders - but where are they now?

Lastly, what is the worst that can happen? I have been watching for decades and I've had the privilege of seeing us win just about all there is to win. That truly has been very nice for us, but none of it is ours by right. And since finances are now the greatest determinant of success, our chances of winning the major honours are going to be increasingly constrained unless we become the plaything of another Abramovich. So what? Is that what people really want? Do you support the club, or the budget? I get pretty annoyed when we drop 'easy' points in individual games like Reading, but if we are incapable of winning the league simply because we can't afford it, then that's too bad.

Merry Christmas to you all, and yes I have been at the cava.

Top post mate

I've got no time for G&H but if they do sell up, what will change if DIC or any other investor comes in. DIC are just G&H in another guise, they will be here to make money, nothing more , nothing less. They certainly won't be giving Rafa untold millions to buy new players, nobody will do that with a new stadium to build.

[Rashid]

Top post mate

I've got no time for G&H but if they do sell up, what will change if DIC or any other investor comes in. DIC are just G&H in another guise, they will be here to make money, nothing more , nothing less. They certainly won't be giving Rafa untold millions to buy new players, nobody will do that with a new stadium to build.

DIC currently have £12 Trillion invested in companies, do you think they could afford the deposit on the stadium and afford to pay to buy us?

[AFII]

Top post mate

I've got no time for G&H but if they do sell up, what will change if DIC or any other investor comes in. DIC are just G&H in another guise, they will be here to make money, nothing more , nothing less. They certainly won't be giving Rafa untold millions to buy new players, nobody will do that with a new stadium to build.

The difference between G&H and DIC are that they are so much richer, even Roman looks poor compared to them, and that means that they can invest more money quicker to get better financial results quicker.

They invest big, thinks big and makes big profits.