Dubai International to make bid for Liverpool FC

[Alpha]

I dont think DIC do anything by chance..............everything they do seems to be well thought out..................... this does however seem to be the ultimate in forward planning

Unless, of course, it was DIC who bought us all along and installed Hicks and Gillett as mock-owners to rock the boat and seemingly **** everything up so DIC could have the glory of riding into town a year later to be our saviours.

[Fowler_God]

That TLW post made me laugh.. as if anyone is going to miss 4 Arabs walking around Melwood. LOL

Yeah but this one has me worrying a bit.

I know 2 people that work at management level for DIC and none of the stuff you're coming up with fits in with what I'm hearing.

I should find out some facts tomorrow, and will let you all in on what I've heard. But I've been told "not to get my hopes up".

[le2red]

I dont think DIC do anything by chance..............everything they do seems to be well thought out..................... this does however seem to be the ultimate in forward planning

The end of November 2007 I'm talking about, so not too much forward planning if they were talking to G&H in Nov/Dec as rumours suggest.

[Diego]

I dont think DIC do anything by chance..............everything they do seems to be well thought out..................... this does however seem to be the ultimate in forward planning

i actually think you give them way to much credit, they have made loads of mistakes and there are loads of strange decisions they have made over the years where they have lost lots of money...

[Iceman]

This is about the 3rd thread I have posted this in but here goes again

DIC's purpose is not entirely to make money........... its portfolio is however so diverse and contains many blue chip companies that they will make handsome profits year in year out

DIC's main aim is to promote Dubai as a nice place to invest/work/take a holiday in

and by associating itself with a global brand like LFC they increase the profile of Dubai

and of course if LFC become even more succesfull then the benefits to Dubai multiply

AS someone said earlier DIC might be quite happy for LFC to make a loss provided brand DIC gained benefits

Sheik Mo is the most forward thinking ruler in the middle east

[Sarb]

Early article for tomorrow. Looks like it could happen. Apparently this bank deal has been like that since November. I think DIC know more than we might imagine

Liverpool turmoil grows as Rafael Benitez stays defiantJonathan Northcroft
TOM HICKS and George Gillett face a decision whether to relinquish control of Liverpool or struggle through a gathering mass of problems, after being put on the spot by would-be buyers of the football club, DIC (Dubai Investment Capital).

DIC, the investment arm of the Dubai government, were yesterday on the brink of making a formal offer for Liverpool, forcing the Americans to choose whether to stick with their stakeholding – or twist.

The DIC bid appeared to be timed to pressure Hicks and Gillett at a vulnerable moment. Supporter opposition to Gillett and Hicks, who last week confirmed that the pair had approached Jurgen Klinsmann about taking over from Rafael Benitez, has hardened to the point where a mass demonstration is planned for tomorrow’s game at Anfield versus Aston Villa. A concerted campaign is also under way to send abusive and threatening email messages to Kekst, the New York public relations company employed by Hicks.

The DIC offer also comes at a time of fresh reports of a rift between Hicks and Gillett. Though dismissed by the Americans as rumour, it may be significant the story is being reported in Canada, in a news outlet which has previously had close dealings with Gillett, owner of the Montreal Cana-diens ice hockey franchise. Until now, Hicks has been determined to hold onto his stake, and bring long term plans, including building a new stadium for Liverpool, to fruition.

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The intentions of Gillett, who has studiously avoided being drawn publicly on his position, continue to remain unclear. DIC appear to think that they can acquire Liverpool, which they attempted to purchase prior to the American takeover in February 2007, by a “divide and conquer” strategy – if they can persuade one of the co-owners to sell, the other may be forced to follow.

Until last week, sources familiar with Hicks’ position were bullish that he and Gillett could move the club forward as a partnership and be owners of Liverpool “for a very long time”.

The first step in that process would be to complete a £350m deal to refinance debts accrued by the Americans as result of their £220m takeover of Liverpool last year, investment in the playing squad, interest payments and a significant tranche of money needed to commence work on the new stadium. Sources suggested such an agreement would be struck by as early as this weekend. Analysts say such a deal is still immiment, with Tuesday now the more realistic deadline. But others in the City of London note that this has been the Americans’ position since as long ago as November, when they were promising refinancing would be in place before a visit to Liverpool by Hicks and Gillett from December 13.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia, the banks involved, want personal guarantees, said to be worth £150m, from the co-owners as condition of the loan. Some City sources suggest the delay is down to Gillett’s reluctance to do this, with his unhappiness at Hicks’ dealings over Liverpool, which included the local newspaper briefing last week in which he admitted approaching Klinsmann as an “insurance policy” should Rafa Benitez depart as manager.

The Klinsmann affair further infuriated supporters already livid about the fact that the refinancing deal proposes loading a signifant amount of debt upon their football club – despite contrary reassurances by Hicks and Gillett – much in the manner the Glazers have done with Man-chester United.

Even if the £350m loan is secured, a further £300m will have to be borrowed to build a “new Anfield” on Stanley Park. It is these financial pressures, coupled with their loss of popularity, which is persuading DIC the Americans might now feel it is time to down cards and cash in what chips are on the table.

Hicks and Gillett valued Liverpool at £1bn when they had talks with DIC about investing in the club in October. But DIC are said to be offering no more than half that figure in their buy-out proposal. Even so, pocketing £500m would still represent a tidy profit for the Americans, who paid £218.9m less than 12 months ago to gain control at Anfield. There is genuine uncertainty in the City about which way the Americans will go. If one wants to sell, the other has first option on whether to buy him out and even if, for instance, Hicks wished to continue with his plans for Liverpool and Gillett wanted out it would be a costly business for Hicks to go it alone Despite the machinations, Rafa Benitez still expects to be managing Liverpool until the end of his contract in 2010 after a week in which his position appeared to have been seriously, perhaps even critically, destabilised by Tom Hicks. The bullish pronouncement represents a change in tack from Benitez, whose mood until recent days had been so gloomy as to provoke stories that he could leave Anfield by the summer. After further speculation about his future caused by Hicks’ Klinsmann revelation, the Spaniard has decided to come out – or at the very least go down – fighting. His stance will be welcomed by a majority of Liverpool fans, with a demonstration against Hicks and his co-owner, Gillett, planned for tomorrow’s home game against Aston Villa.

Benitez had kept his counsel following the Klinsmann disclosure, but asked whether he still expects to be in charge 12 months from now, he replied: “I have a lot of confidence. I have two-and-a-half years left on my contract and I’m really happy and pleased to be here.”

He denied his authority had been compromised by the approach to Klinsmann. “You can see the commitment [from the players] has been really good. Training has been more or less the same. I was telling them the most important thing is the club. We must do the best for the club, our fans. It must be like this,” he said.

Though the dressing room’s key figures, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, have been careful not to be drawn into a debate about their manager’s future, other players, such as John Arne Riise, Sami Hyypia and Xabi Alonso, have come out with expressions of support. Jer-maine Pennant said, “it’s all about stability and building”, likening the long-term work Benitez is attempting to carry out to that of his former boss at Arsenal, Arsène Wenger. Benitez, who may now feel he can outlast the Americans, or at the very least that if Hicks stays he would not risk further unpopularity and tension by sacking him, was bold enough to put forward what amounted to a manifesto.

“I have an idea of how to progress,” he said. “The first team is much better with a spine – Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger, Fernando Torres, Jose Reina – of young players with quality, and other young players like Ryan Babel, Lucas Leiva and Martin Skrtel in the squad. We need to bring some people in but we are much closer. We are signing a lot of young players and the reserve team, with an average age of 17, are second top of their league. That was the plan and we will continue with the plan. I am talking to the players, some of them, a lot of them, say, ‘What is going on?’ ‘Keep going’ is the answer. ‘Try to do your best’. I am working and thinking about the future. Nothing has changed.”

[Alpha]

I only pointed out in that post that Roman puts the money he spend on players back as debt against the club as you should do in his situation.

That must have been a different post.

[AFII]

Gillett, Hicks marriage set to end in sale of Liverpool's beloved club

STEPHEN BRUNT

Suffice it to say, there is trouble in paradise.

The partnership between George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the Americans who own the Liverpool soccer club, is in severe distress.

It's a safe bet the team's immediate future might involve one of them, or the other - or it might involve neither. But it almost certainly won't involve both.

When they purchased the club a little less than a year ago, Gillett and Hicks had to know they were in for a bumpy ride. Other outsiders had already made their way along that perilous path - most notably the reviled Glazer family with Manchester United and Russian zillionaire Roman Abramovich with Chelsea, who at least bought love by winning silverware - but still there remains that tinge of suspicion bordering on xenophobia any time outsiders grab a piece of England's national game.

Liverpool, with its glorious history and with its distinct local culture, would arguably present an even greater challenge than the other clubs. From the outset, the battle for scouser acceptance was an uphill battle, with the local press jumping on any suggestion the Americans didn't fully comprehend the game or its idiosyncratic business and didn't share the supporters' undying passion.

Gillett at least understood that kind of dynamic, having gone through much the same thing when he bought the Montreal Canadiens. He managed to defuse most of the resistance there by hiring good, unimpeachable people to run the team and by approaching the whole cultural issue from a posture of humility.

With Liverpool, his son, Foster, moved to the city full-time to help run the team, just as he had previously moved to Montreal, and though George Gillett quickly stopped talking to the local press, he stayed visible among the fans, employing his considerable charm toward convincing the supporter base that his heart was in the right place.

For Hicks, though, who owns the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball and the Dallas Stars of the NHL, this was all new territory, and he stepped into trouble again and again. Much of the most recent media firestorm in Britain, including the admission the owners had dallied with Jurgen Klinsmann (who subsequently accepted the job of managing Bayern Munich beginning next season) while Rafael Benitez was still under contract as the Liverpool manager, can be laid at Hicks's feet.

That clash in styles - as much as the oft-reported question of the club's refinancing in order to underwrite the construction of a new, much larger stadium to replace the fabled Anfield - seems to be at the heart of the current ownership crisis.

It is highly likely that by next week it will be announced the owners' refinancing plan has been completed - a tricky proposition in these times of tight credit - allowing Liverpool both to turn sod for the new stadium this coming summer, with opening scheduled for 2011, and to be active participants in the transfer market going forward. The extra seats and extra revenue possibilities of the new Anfield will allow whoever owns the team to proceed from a position of strength in the ultracompetitive upper echelon of the English Premier League.

But just who is that going to be?

It's an open question right now. Hicks and Gillett are equal partners. The first option will be for one to buy the other out - whether Hicks's heart is still in the game is difficult to judge, but Gillett at very least seems interested in continuing his association with soccer, either at Liverpool or elsewhere, where he might invest the proceeds of a buyout.

If either is seeking a new partner, there are a plenty of available candidates waiting in the wings, including Dubai Investment Capital, which was beaten to the punch by the Americans last year. Similarly, if both Hicks's and Gillett's share goes on the open market, there would be no shortage of interested buyers, and the Americans could be expected to claim a healthy return on their initial investment.

But the sense is that Gillett, if he has his druthers, would prefer to hang in - and if it's in a buyout scenario, almost certainly with a new partner.

That might not be the perfect ending for the hardcore Liverpool loyalists, who no doubt dream of having one of their own sitting in the front row of the directors' box, someone who has lived and breathed the team and the city his or her entire life.

But assuming that that's a fantasy now, that the choice is between one American, another American, and the investment arm of an oil-rich Arab emirate, it shouldn't really be so tough.

A hockey fan in Montreal could tell them they could do much worse.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...TPStory/Sports

[Jayesh87]

Gillett, Hicks marriage set to end in sale of Liverpool's beloved club

STEPHEN BRUNT

Suffice it to say, there is trouble in paradise.

The partnership between George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the Americans who own the Liverpool soccer club, is in severe distress.

It's a safe bet the team's immediate future might involve one of them, or the other - or it might involve neither. But it almost certainly won't involve both.

When they purchased the club a little less than a year ago, Gillett and Hicks had to know they were in for a bumpy ride. Other outsiders had already made their way along that perilous path - most notably the reviled Glazer family with Manchester United and Russian zillionaire Roman Abramovich with Chelsea, who at least bought love by winning silverware - but still there remains that tinge of suspicion bordering on xenophobia any time outsiders grab a piece of England's national game.

Liverpool, with its glorious history and with its distinct local culture, would arguably present an even greater challenge than the other clubs. From the outset, the battle for scouser acceptance was an uphill battle, with the local press jumping on any suggestion the Americans didn't fully comprehend the game or its idiosyncratic business and didn't share the supporters' undying passion.

Gillett at least understood that kind of dynamic, having gone through much the same thing when he bought the Montreal Canadiens. He managed to defuse most of the resistance there by hiring good, unimpeachable people to run the team and by approaching the whole cultural issue from a posture of humility.

With Liverpool, his son, Foster, moved to the city full-time to help run the team, just as he had previously moved to Montreal, and though George Gillett quickly stopped talking to the local press, he stayed visible among the fans, employing his considerable charm toward convincing the supporter base that his heart was in the right place.

For Hicks, though, who owns the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball and the Dallas Stars of the NHL, this was all new territory, and he stepped into trouble again and again. Much of the most recent media firestorm in Britain, including the admission the owners had dallied with Jurgen Klinsmann (who subsequently accepted the job of managing Bayern Munich beginning next season) while Rafael Benitez was still under contract as the Liverpool manager, can be laid at Hicks's feet.

That clash in styles - as much as the oft-reported question of the club's refinancing in order to underwrite the construction of a new, much larger stadium to replace the fabled Anfield - seems to be at the heart of the current ownership crisis.

It is highly likely that by next week it will be announced the owners' refinancing plan has been completed - a tricky proposition in these times of tight credit - allowing Liverpool both to turn sod for the new stadium this coming summer, with opening scheduled for 2011, and to be active participants in the transfer market going forward. The extra seats and extra revenue possibilities of the new Anfield will allow whoever owns the team to proceed from a position of strength in the ultracompetitive upper echelon of the English Premier League.

But just who is that going to be?

It's an open question right now. Hicks and Gillett are equal partners. The first option will be for one to buy the other out - whether Hicks's heart is still in the game is difficult to judge, but Gillett at very least seems interested in continuing his association with soccer, either at Liverpool or elsewhere, where he might invest the proceeds of a buyout.

If either is seeking a new partner, there are a plenty of available candidates waiting in the wings, including Dubai Investment Capital, which was beaten to the punch by the Americans last year. Similarly, if both Hicks's and Gillett's share goes on the open market, there would be no shortage of interested buyers, and the Americans could be expected to claim a healthy return on their initial investment.

But the sense is that Gillett, if he has his druthers, would prefer to hang in - and if it's in a buyout scenario, almost certainly with a new partner.

That might not be the perfect ending for the hardcore Liverpool loyalists, who no doubt dream of having one of their own sitting in the front row of the directors' box, someone who has lived and breathed the team and the city his or her entire life.

But assuming that that's a fantasy now, that the choice is between one American, another American, and the investment arm of an oil-rich Arab emirate, it shouldn't really be so tough.

A hockey fan in Montreal could tell them they could do much worse.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...TPStory/Sports

This guy was a guest of Gillett when he was here for the press conference after he bought us last year.

[Jayesh87]

****!

Anfield crisis: Owners could sell Liverpool for £50m profit as title hopes crash
Last updated at 22:13pm on 19th January 2008

Liverpool's future is in the balance after it emerged last night that the club's millionaire American owners are ready to reject the chance to make a staggering profit of up to £50million by selling out less than a year after their takeover.

Dubai International Capital have made an offer, reported to be £400m, to buy out George Gillett Jnr and Tom Hicks and take on the club's debts.

The deal would result in the two American millionaires making a huge profit without having put a cent of their own money into the club, an outcome which would anger Liverpool fans already dismayed by their team's lack of progress towards becoming genuine Premier League contenders since the arrival of Gillett and Hicks.

Liverpool face Aston Villa tomorrow with their hopes of a title challenge already conceded by defender Jamie Carragher to be virtually non-existent.

Despite the temptation to cash in, Hicks and Gillett are understood to be planning to cling on to control of the club and go ahead with their intention to take out £350m in refinancing loans.

The worrying downside to that venture would be the crippling effect on the transfer plans of manager Rafael Benitez and the fear that it could be the first step towards a Leeds United-style meltdown. Neither DIC nor the club's bankers, the Royal Bank of Scotland, would allow that to happen and they will hold crisis talks this week to discuss how DIC, the investment arm of the Dubai government, could rescue Liverpool from crisis, on and off the field.

Gillett and Hicks are close to finalising a restructuring package with RBS, who loaned them £220m to buy Liverpool last February, and American bank Wachovia.

The new £350m loan would cover the Americans' original borrowing, the money the club raised to buy players last summer and the start-up costs for a new stadium project.

But City observers believe the new loans would be merely a 'sticking plaster' for the problems at Liverpool and would leave them unable to compete with the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea because of crippling £30m-a-year interest charges.

There are even fears that any future failure to qualify for the Champions League could leave the club vulnerable to the kind of downward spiral suffered by Leeds. RBS, who have a long relationship with Liverpool, are so concerned about the deal that a senior figure in the bank has been called in to oversee the delicate negotiations.

But with fans due to mount a huge demonstration against the Americans at Anfield tomorrow, the pressure on them to walk away is increasing by the day.

Hicks, however, is playing hardball, refusing to be forced into accepting DIC's current price for the shares and believing that, if the refinancing goes through, he will be in a stronger negotiating position.

For their part, DIC will not pay a price which does not make commercial sense under their own plans and are prepared to bide their time.

Gillett has found himself embarrassed and annoyed by the way Hicks has conducted himself, particularly in the clumsy confirmation of an approach to former Germany World Cup manager Jurgen Klinsmann over replacing Benitez. But sources suggested last night that Hicks is now likely to fall into line with the Texan.

Gillett, asset-rich but cashpoor, has found himself in a kingmaker role and could still trigger a takeover by DIC by refusing to sign off the refinancing or even by joining forces with DIC to buy out Hicks.

But in recent days he has stepped back from those drastic courses of action in favour of proceeding with the new loan from RBS and Wachovia.

If DIC, which is headed by Liverpool fan Sameer al- Ansari, do move in, it is thought that they would retain Benitez as manager after the way he has kept up his team's challenge for trophies in a very difficult season.

Although Liverpool's homegrown stars, Steven Gerrard and Carragher, have declined to offer Benitez any public sympathy or support since his disenchantment with Hicks and Gillett became public in November, the manager said yesterday: "We know we need to improve in the Premier League, but in the Champions League it's clear we have been the best English club over the past three seasons."

Benitez also revealed that his players have quizzed him over events away from the field.

The Spaniard said: "Some of the players, a lot of the players, have asked me: 'What is going on?' The only thing I can say is to keep going and try to do our best."

Benitez appeared optimistic about his chances of staying in the job when he added: "I am thinking about the future — and the future does not just mean next week. It is next season and beyond."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...79&ito=newsnow

[Fowler_God]

With Liverpool, his son, Foster, moved to the city full-time to help run the team

I think i read on Rawk that he attends the regular meeting between him, Rafa and Parry on a Monday then ****s off to London for the rest of the week. The American commitment is great aint it? They are using us a a freaking toy

[StevieG08]

I really hope that DIC come in and secure the ownership of the club and soon. All this constant media speculation crap is bad for team morale and for the image of the club. I really have to wonder at Parry and Moores, in fact all of the board who took their big fat payout, lifetime tickets and honorary positions. I hope they choke to **** on their 5 course corporate hospitality meals and Champagne, the ****ing leeches!

[Johnny]

****!

First he says this
Liverpool's future is in the balance after it emerged last night that the club's millionaire American owners are ready to reject the chance to make a staggering profit of up to £50million by selling out less than a year after their takeover.


Then he says this.
If DIC, which is headed by Liverpool fan Sameer al- Ansari, do move in, it is thought that they would retain Benitez as manager after the way he has kept up his team's challenge for trophies in a very difficult season.

More sensationalist journalism.



No offence Milky.

[Kopite_Colin]

Some of us were distraught. Check thi out...


http://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/show...=DUBAI&page=18

Too right we were. I can't believe we let DIC walk away the way we did.

[Vermilion]

Reject, Reject, Reject, If those two ******s cling on & end up ****in DIC off it'll be bad, real bad, If DIC dont get LFC this time i fear it's the last we'll see of them, would they spend spend spend, i dont care right now, They would be better for us than this pair of *******s.