Dubai International to make bid for Liverpool FC

[AFII]

Liverpool will pay £30m a year interest
Jan 29 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL Football Club will have to come up with around £30m a year to pay the interest on loans taken out by its American owners.

In an astonishing announcement that confirms the worst fears of many Reds fans, a spokesman for Tom Hicks admitted for the first time that the club will be responsible for servicing the £350m loan package.

The loan taken out with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia was divided in two. with £105m being loaded onto the club’s book, and the remaining £245m going on to the books of Kop Holdings, the parent company set up by Hicks and George Gillett when they bought Liverpool last February.

But today’s bombshell news that it is the club, and not Hicks and Gillett, which will have to meet interest payments on both sections of the loan will put huge financial pressure on Liverpool to qualify for the lucrative Champions League every season.

A spokesman from Financial Dynamics, the City PR company representing Hicks, said: “The holding company debt is supported by the assets it acquired and should there ever be any shortfall in cash flow at the club or anywhere else in Kop in any given year, Kop’s ownership, under the terms of the financing package, is prepared to fund whatever is required.

“The debt is being handled exactly as it is handled at the vast majority of professional sports teams.”

John Mackin, of fans group Reclaim The Kop, admitted he now feared for the future of the club if Hicks and Gillett remain as owners.

He said: “We are looking at a level of debt, or the interest payments at the very least, which could sink the club if we have a couple of bad seasons.

“I’m just hoping that this admission by Hicks is part of an exit strategy which would allow him to sell the club because of the outrage this announcement will cause.

“A meeting has been called for Liverpool fans at the Sandon pub on Thursday night, and I’ve got no doubt that these interest payments will be one of the main talking points.”

Anfield sources today indicated that Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry and life president David Moores would continue their opposition to the club having to make any interest payments on the acquisition debt.

But such opposition could ultimately lead to the pair being removed from the club’s board.

Liverpool FC writer Tony Barrett says . . .

THEY arrived at Anfield in a blaze of glory, claiming they would restore Liverpool Football Club to its former glory.

Insisting they would not mimic Malcolm Glazer at Manchester United by loading their club with debt, Tom Hicks and George Gillett made all the right noises and assured fans the club they love would be safe in their hands.

But today such grand promises seem all too hollow, following Hicks’ admission that Liverpool FC will have to come up with around £30m a year to meet interest payments on loans taken out by the club’s owners.

If former chairman David Moores was not already regretting selling up to the American duo, he certainly will be now.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...0252-20407467/

[blacky]

Since all thiis kicked off a couple of weeks ago Parry and Gilette have kept a very low profile. Apparently Parry aint even taking calls from the press. It's pissing me off now. WTF is going on with our club? Where are DIC in all of this?

[StevieG08]

Naming rights, sponsorship etc.

Without a doubt, it can be done Arsenal have proved it. My point being that i don't have enough faith in Hicks to pull it off. Also you can't sell the rights until the stadium is complete as far as i know, so in the short term things will be very, very tight.

[Rashid]

I bet there are still Hicks lovers out there... what a joke some of our supporters have become. These two need to accept the DIC bid of £350M and **** off.

[disco]

Such **** PR.

A spokesman from Financial Dynamics, the City PR company representing Hicks, said: “The holding company debt is supported by the assets it acquired and should there ever be any shortfall in cash flow at the club or anywhere else in Kop in any given year, Kop’s ownership, under the terms of the financing package, is prepared to fund whatever is required."

From which the press picks up on the first part of the statement and ****-stirs.

Had it read :

A spokesman from Financial Dynamics, the City PR company representing Hicks, said: “If LFC make sufficient profits then a dividend would be used to finance the loan. However, this would not be at the expense of maintaining a competitive squad, and the owners will finance the interest payments themselves if the club is unable to "

then we'd all see the press have picked up on the wrong bit of the statement....

[CAD]

If LFC can't pay the debt it doesn't really matter. They will have to fund us whatever way you look at it. They will carry us until the stadium is in place an sell us to the higgest bidder. Romantic, no. Realistic, yes.

You just have to acknowledge that we won't move forward until the stadium is in place and the revenue goes up.

This is about Moores and his incompetence. The rest is silence.

[disco]

I bet there are still Hicks lovers out there... what a joke some of our supporters have become. These two need to accept the DIC bid of £350M and **** off.

I doubt you'll find many "Hicks lovers" , I just don't think DIC - or anyone else - would finance the club any differently. Even if they're 'clever' about the financing (little debt immediately on club, loads elsewhere hidden away), the club would still be expected to meet any interest payments.

[Sarb]

When they can't repay the interest or the loans, what do people think they will do? Sell our assets. Torres and Gerrard will be sold. Hicks did the same at Corinthians and he isn't going to change his business model for us lot. No spending on new players, our prized assets will be sold as well. FLMAO at these idiots. What's even worse is the people that fell for his interview on Sportsweek and the new Stadium. There won't be a new stadium with G&H. We're on a downward slope now. I'm sure there are still going to be people on here calling it idle speculation though

[Darkon]

I doubt there are many who are still in favour of the two current owners, I still have to be convinced that DIC would be any better... For all we know, they would load the debt on to the club as well. The only thing we have to go after are copy-paste jobs from a few website, including the doubtfull wiki, stating that they are serious investors and so forth - which I don't give much credibility...

I would personally love if LFC fans of certain riches could join in on a consortium to run LFC, perhaps with the financial backing from elsewhere... To bad Moores, Morgan etc. don't come along to establish this...

[carlton]

Quote:
A spokesman from Financial Dynamics, the City PR company representing Hicks, said: “The holding company debt is supported by the assets it acquired and should there ever be any shortfall in cash flow at the club or anywhere else in Kop in any given year, Kop’s ownership, under the terms of the financing package, is prepared to fund whatever is required."

So that means if we miss out on a CL place and dont generate enough $ to pay the interest bill they will fund it instead. The new TV del will cover most of this I imagine but they will need to stump up cash for players in the next couple of years as there wont be much cash left after paying the interest. and they could always roll the cost of any new players into the price of a future sale to DIC hopefully.

[Jayesh87]

sounds promising - anyone heard of/attending this? whats the planned outcome or goal?

being an ocean or 2 away i cant be there....its in your hands people, hicks out!

Dave Usher mentioned this at the weekend. Probably due to the split on the Kop on Sat.

[CAD]

I bet there are still Hicks lovers out there... what a joke some of our supporters have become. These two need to accept the DIC bid of £350M and **** off.

What a joke of a poster you have become.

How the **** could anybody love Hicks and Gillett? This is about modern business, something that you are obviously utter clueless and ignorant about.

I have been saying that we were up ****creek since the koptalk days. I have always said that the stadium should have been build much earlier. David Moores forced this scenario on LFC when he chose the selfishly stay in the driving seat even though we were on the way out over a cliff.

All this ****e is on his shoulders. He was a ****ing disaster when he was in power and he was a disaster when he made his exit. He couldn't even do that right. The *******.

We are now in the hands of two greedy Americans. They are looking for an exit at around 1 billion. They will put debt on LFC like Glazer has done with Scum and speculate in increased value over time.

Some of us have known this would happen for years. The obvious stagnation since Moores took over couldn't take us anywhere else. It's a testemony to how clueless Moores was, that a business he sold, could quadruple it's value in less than 5 years. That's how big a moron this guy is. And he has had his hands on the club for 17 years. ****e for brains. Silverspoon reach around up the ass. The bringer of joy to United. They should have ****ing posters of him hanging all over the city.

DIC wouldn't make any difference. Assholes with a different spin. That's all.

Now, stop crying like a baby and smell the ****ing coffee.

[Skillz]

I bet there are still Hicks lovers out there... what a joke some of our supporters have become. These two need to accept the DIC bid of £350M and **** off.

Rash, If you are saying DIC have bid that amount does include the debt or do they (DIC) take over that debt eg 105M pounds. Thanks

[Steve101]

I bet there are still Hicks lovers out there... what a joke some of our supporters have become. These two need to accept the DIC bid of £350M and **** off.

This is exactly the sort of garbage for which you've become famous/notorious. What your implying is that if we dont agree 100% with your views then we're wrong and joke supporters. Well I dont need people like you to do my thinking for me, so dont ever assume you know what others are thinking because they wont tow your party line. No doubt I'll be branded a Hicks supporter or whatever. It's all rather juvenile.

[tomasjj]

DIC wouldn't make any difference. Assholes with a different spin. That's all.

Now this we do not know...