Arabs eye £500m Liverpool buy-out

[kurtangle01]

If the Arabs are genuinely interested in buying the club, i really dont think it'd be as a business/profit making method. Think about it, they have literally billions. Profit from football isnt easy anyway, but when you put it into context, any profit they could make, for them, would be akin to the loose change i have in my pocket now.

If they're after the club, i think it's more for the prestige and they'll go all out to win things. A few hundred million quid is also quite small time for them, so i doubt they'd baulk at shelling out for success.

All good points. However what about their, apparent, proposed 7 year exit strategy? What about the rumors of them looking to sell some of the shares for profit after they purchased the club?

DIC would be in this for as much a profit as they could get. Their business plan wouldn't be, imho, to dissimilar to G&H. The only difference is the DIC would be able to execute their plan easier due to their finacial clout.

[Harv]

If the Arabs are genuinely interested in buying the club, i really dont think it'd be as a business/profit making method. Think about it, they have literally billions. Profit from football isnt easy anyway, but when you put it into context, any profit they could make, for them, would be akin to the loose change i have in my pocket now.

If they're after the club, i think it's more for the prestige and they'll go all out to win things. A few hundred million quid is also quite small time for them, so i doubt they'd baulk at shelling out for success.

i really hope these reports are true.

The yanks just dont have anywhere near enough to get us level with Manure and Chelsea finacially.

like you said, they wouldnt be in this for profit...like the yanks clearly are. They have enough money, and the profit that would be made through football would be tiny for them.

They want to have winners, thats how they work.

[Craig_H]

All good points. However what about their, apparent, proposed 7 year exit strategy? What about the rumors of them looking to sell some of the shares for profit after they purchased the club?

DIC would be in this for as much a profit as they could get. Their business plan wouldn't be, imho, to dissimilar to G&H. The only difference is the DIC would be able to execute their plan easier due to their finacial clout.

Thing is though scott, if you're sitting there with 10 grand and someone comes upto you and says invest 500 quid here, and you could make a £5 profit...you wouldnt think it was worth your while, would you?

Although...being a jock...

But joking aside, you see my point?

[Craig_H]

i really hope these reports are true.

The yanks just dont have anywhere near enough to get us level with Manure and Chelsea finacially.

like you said, they wouldnt be in this for profit...like the yanks clearly are. They have enough money, and the profit that would be made through football would be tiny for them.

They want to have winners, thats how they work.

Exactly, they want the prestige and the status that comes with being top dogs. They want people to look at them and say "They're the people who own the mighty LFC". They'd be in it for the glory, not the money.

[Robster007]

Exactly, they want the prestige and the status that comes with being top dogs. They want people to look at them and say "They're the people who own the mighty LFC". They'd be in it for the glory, not the money.

Which makes them one of us.

[Craig_H]

Which makes them one of us.

In a sense. But they wouldnt be doing it for the love of the club, they'd see it as personal glory for them.

But hey, that's fine by me. The sheik can don the kit, take the armband off Stevie G and lift the PL trophy himself in the centre circle at Anfield, as far as i'm concerned.

[Jesus]

Exactly, they want the prestige and the status that comes with being top dogs. They want people to look at them and say "They're the people who own the mighty LFC". They'd be in it for the glory, not the money.

And so it starts.

If only.

[Jesus]

January 13, 2008
Banks set to back ‘new Anfield’
Jonathan Northcroft

TOM HICKS and George Gillett have moved closer to securing a bank deal that will allow them to press ahead with their ambitious plans for a 70,000-seat new stadium for Liverpool.

The Americans, who for several months have been locked in talks with Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia over a £350m refinancing loan, are now optimistic an agreement can be struck by the end of the month – and possibly as early as next week. The injection from the banks is necessary to cover the £270m of loans Hicks and Gillett took out to purchase Liverpool last February and help fund their new ground.

The Americans spent nine hours in New York on Tuesday with Rick Parry, Liverpool’s chief executive, discussing two rival architectural designs for ‘New Anfield’ and will make a decision on which option to take as soon as the package from the banks comes through. The Dallas-based company HKS produced a revised version of their original plans which were scrapped last month as the project became simply too expensive to proceed with, while Manchester-based AFL came up with their own proposals as the two firms went head to head.

Both companies were asked to produce a full set of proposals with detailed costings, designs, time scales and planning information. Parry says he was impressed by what he saw, but Liverpool are not yet willing to put their own deadline on when a decision will be made. Parry maintains, however, that whichever plan gets the nod it will produce an “excellent result”. “We had two very detailed and very informative presentations which were very thorough and extremely professional,” he said. “It has been another big step forward to finding the best possible solution.”

Despite the snags over the new ground, and continued doubt over the future of team manager Rafa Benitez, Hicks and Gillett are adamant that they do not intend to sell the club and cut their losses, despite continuing speculation to the contrary.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article3177761.ece

[Craig_H]

And so it starts.

If only.

Before you say anything, i dont actually think the arabs WILL buy the club

[rushscored4]

Sorry, back on topic, the americans are ******s, let's give the middle east a go. So what if they don't understand the Liverpool way, we need someone richer than Roman, cause that's all that matters now.

Are you for ****ing real?

[DannyMan2006]

Only in my wildest dreams would DIC buy us now.

I remember me and quite a few others sending Ktalk into meltdown when it was realised that the Yanks had won the bidding war. I wasn't best pleased to say the least.

Having said that, initially I had wondered why I was so pissed off, as the American charm offensive went into overdrive. But surely the reason we sold the club was to secure the long term future of the club. This deal was supposed to have meant we could build a new stadium as well as compete for the top players. And yet apparently the Yanks are struggling to secure a loan - Against the club FFS, something they said they wouldn't do.

I don't know why Moores picked G&H over DIC, I'm sure there must have been a better reason than the fact they offered more to the shareholders, but it was strange that G&H would offer so much more than DIC at the time. Why didn't they just match DICs bid. Surely they would have won anyway if there plan was the best?

Plenty of unanswered questions remain on this one, and no doubt I'll never get the answers to them. But inital talk of G&H being more concerned about glory than money seem fanciful. They just don't seem to have the cash to compete. If they were that interested in glory they would have ploughed their cash into a sports team they already own. At least that way they could have watched the games on a regular basis, as well as giving a damn about the sport.

That's my biggest concern see, they just don't give a damn about football. At least someone in DIC was an LFC fan and actually knew what football was all about. I also doubt Moores and Parry would be so happy with another takeover - after the way they blew DIC out, methinks both would get the bullet if another takeover occurred.

There is no question Moores is a massive LFC fan, but I think he may have made the wrong decision here. Guess we'll never know for sure though.

[sinbad]

it was strange that G&H would offer so much more than DIC at the time. Why didn't they just match DICs bid. Surely they would have won anyway if there plan was the best?

As we've seen their plan certainly wasn't the best after all. Moores sold us down the river for the extra 8 mill, parry kept his cushy job.
And the two pricks happily paid over the odds, since they'd already planned to transfer the debt onto the club.

[Revo]

As we've seen their plan certainly wasn't the best after all. Moores sold us down the river for the extra 8 mill, parry kept his cushy job.
And the two pricks happily paid over the odds, since they'd already planned to transfer the debt onto the club.

[slimbimjim]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,,23045714-29437,00.html

[blacky]

The yanks only bought us to sell on to DIC for a profit.

Thats where Hicks made his wealth. I believe this could be the case. The observer is usually very good with it's information.