Dubai International to make bid for Liverpool FC

[Jayesh87]

Where have you seen the article, can you post it?

They show the papers back pages at 11:55 on SSN

[kurtangle01]

Where have you seen the article, can you post it?

I just saw them go through the back pages on SSN. I haven't read the article. It was the only paper running that particular story though.

[MascheredUp]

Yes it's from Chris B. Pretty much what he was saying last week. Nothing has changed.

Apart from the fact that DIC won't be coming in for us last week.

[Red Chilli]

Apart from the fact that DIC won't be coming in for us last week.

Yeah that and the refinancing.

Apart from that, nothing has changed

[JCase]

Yeah that and the refinancing.

Apart from that, nothing has changed

Anything new from your

[Red Chilli]

Anything new from your

No mate, normal service has resumed. Haven't bumped into her for a while

[JCase]

No mate, normal service has resumed. Haven't bumped into her for a while

Sigh!. Thanks. I will always support our club no matter what. I'm mentally getting prepared for us to finsih 5th/ 6th and play in the Euro Disney Comp next season

Good nite folks. It's 8:45am where I am. Time for breakfast.

[ningnangnong]

The new DIC thread

Dubai appoints striker in drive for Liverpool

By Mark Kleinman and Simon Goodley
Last Updated: 12:17am GMT 27/01/2008

Dubai International Capital (DIC) is believed to be pressing ahead with an attempt to prise Liverpool Football Club out of American hands despite a £350m refinancing deal struck late last week.

DIC is understood to have engaged advisers including the City law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to assist it in the pursuit of Liverpool. Insiders said this weekend that officials from the Gulf state's investment vehicle had met with Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the joint-shareholders in Kop Football Holdings as recently as Friday.

Despite continued denials from Hicks and Gillett that they have any plans to sell the club, sources close to DIC said the investment group had continued to receive encouragement to make an offer for the club.

The intrigue surrounding the Americans' ownership of Liverpool reached fever pitch last week with the finalisation of a refinancing package worth £350m that should enable Liverpool to leave its Anfield home - where it beat Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup yesterday - and move to a new 71,000-seat stadium in Stanley Park.

It is understood that the latest refinancing, struck with lenders including Royal Bank of Scotland, may need to be replaced with a further package within the next 18 months.

DIC declined to comment, while spokesmen for Hicks and Gillett could not be reached last night.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/01/27/cnliverpool127.xml

[Chris]

Exclusive by Chris Bascombe

LIVERPOOL are praying a form of Merseyside GBH will come to their rescue — Gillett Backstabbing Hicks.

Anfield co-owner George Gillett brought his feud with partner Tom Hicks to the fore by refusing to publicly back a £350million refinancing deal.

Gillett signed up to the agreement before the February 5 deadline to protect his own investment — but privately he does not believe holding on to Liverpool is in the Americans' or the club's best interest.

His son, Foster, left his office at Melwood two weeks ago and there are no plans for his return.

It appeared Hicks had seen off the latest challenge from Dubai International Capital (DIC) by signing a debt-ridden agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia.

But takeover talks are continuing, with DIC not walking away as they sense the split between the owners leaves the door open for a £250m bid for the whole club — beginning with a fresh move to buy Hicks' share.

The Americans have an existing £105m debt secured against the club's assets.

And even though the pair claim to have obtained less borrowing than feared, Liverpool still face £450m worth of debts once they begin work on the new stadium (below).

As well as the £105m debt, they still need a £300m loan to build the stadium.

With interest payments in the region of £18m a year, a vast transfer kitty to challenge for the title before 2011 looks non-existent.

Title

A Kop source admitted: "The fact is, under the current financial proposals, there isn't a hope of Liverpool challenging for the title until the new stadium is built in three years. It doesn't matter whether Rafa Benitez, Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson is in charge. It's an impossible task."

The fragility of the Americans' reign continues to make them vulnerable to the renewed interest from DIC, especially as fundamental questions remain unanswered.

It has yet to be revealed how the latest £350m loan will be repaid within an 18-month deadline, since the new stadium will not be built until 2011.

Multi-million pound interest payments will also ensure any Champions League earnings are swiftly swallowed up.

And a top-four finish is no longer a ‘minimum acceptable requirement' at Anfield — it will be essential in order to prevent financial meltdown.

That has not stopped Hicks insisting funding will be available for players. But the fact that this will come straight from the banks ought to immediately concern Reds supporters.

Hicks is holding on, despite the manager, fans and even members of his own board wanting him out.

Questions have also been raised as to how long two more established figures will survive.

Chief executive Rick Parry and former chairman David Moores now feel like strangers at their own club.

Blame

A year ago, Moores led a club £60m in debt, with a £300m bank loan the only realistic option to keep stadium plans on track. The chairman opted against this, fearing he would lack the funds to strengthen the squad. He sold to Hicks and Gillett, convinced the duo had deep pockets.

Instead, they have created a much worse scenario.

Having led the opposition to Hicks behind the scenes, Moores and Parry are attempting to win back the Kop fans who blame them for inviting the bogeyman into their club.

But the Anfield faithful are in no mood for forgiveness.

[Alpha]

DIC 'still intent' on Liverpool takeover

Duncan Castles
Sunday January 27, 2008
The Observer

Dubai International Capital remain intent on a takeover of Liverpool, regardless of their disappointment with the nature of the £350million refinancing deal with which the club's American owners have secured their immediate tenure there.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr announced the new 18-month 'market-rate' loan on Friday, the former describing it as 'a strong vote of confidence in the club's financial strength'. DIC, however, regard it as an expensive holding measure that will cost the club around £28m a year in interest, yet fail to solve Liverpool's requirement for significant new capital.

Underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland and US bank Wachovia, the loan provides limited additional resources for a club in need of significant investment in the playing staff and a new stadium expected to cost a further £300m. As Liverpool's total debt stood at £297m before the refinancing package was agreed, it delivers a maximum of £53m of new money. Around £20m is thought to have been used up by the arrangement fee on the new loan.

While concerned club officials insisted that £245m of the debt was placed against Hicks and Gillett's holding company Kop Football Limited, it is understood that interest payments will be made entirely from club income. As such these will swallow up almost all of Liverpool's projected profits for the 2007-08 financial year.

Though the banks required Hicks and Gillett to increase their personal guarantees on the debt to £225m, it is understood that the Americans have not spent any of their own money on the club with the £20m equity each had to inject into the new deal coming in the form of personal loans, repayable by the club to them in the event of a further takeover.

The new 71,000-capacity stadium at Stanley Park will not be realised without another large tranche of debt. Though the stadium design announced on Friday has been downgraded from architects HKS' original proposal, it is still expected to cost a total of £350m. A spokesman for Hicks said that £50m of that sum has already been spent on consultancy and design. Further planning permission is required on the new structure.

DIC consider the refinancing a waste of club money that could have been spent on the team or the stadium and attempted to prevent it by offering to buy the club for £500m last week. Sources at the Arab investment group insist that Hicks and Gillett indicated their intention to sell during takeover talks, but only after the new loan had gone through.

Led by Liverpool supporter Sameer Al Ansari, DIC thought it had agreed a deal to buy Liverpool in late 2006, only for majority shareholder David Moores to sell to Hicks and Gillett. The Americans paid £174.1m for the shares, taking on outstanding debts of £44.8m and undertaking not to borrow any money against the club. On Friday, Kop Football Limited restated that debt at £60m.

Hicks also moved to reassure Rafa Benítez of his 'continuing and enthusiastic support' as manager, after earlier admitting that he had talked with Jurgen Klinsmann about replacing the Spaniard. Benitez has said little about the refinancing, though he suggested his desired £17m full transfer of Javier Mascherano would have to be partially funded by Mohamed Sissoko's proposed sale to Juventus.

Asked last night if Hicks now intended to sell Liverpool, his spokesman said: 'Tom Hicks is not a seller of Liverpool Football Club and he is certainly in it for the long term.' He declined to comment on how interest payments on the £350m would be funded, how much new money would be available to Liverpool, or whether the owners had invested any of their own cash in the club. Gillett, unhappy with some of his partner's recent actions, has yet to comment publicly on the revised plans.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport...247773,00.html

[Alpha]

And nothing's actually changed other than Hicks admitting he met Klinnsman!
Oh, and the prospect of DIC being involved again has also got people very excited....

It always was a leveraged buy-out. I'm sure all the sums add up and think people are getting too excited about it. So Bascombe is still ****-stirring IMO, he's jus fuelling everyone's negative view on the financing.

I'll change my mind if the stadium doesn't start building and we don't strengthen our squad significantly in the summer. I'd also support DIC taking over (again, this is fairly blindly based on their financial strength), but don't expect much difference in how they'd finance the club.

Fair enough.

How would you explain Foster's departure and George's silence though?

[disco]

Fair enough.

How would you explain Foster's departure and George's silence though?

Thought he was supposed to be on holiday?

If he has left - and Gillett is thinking of selling - then presumably all will become revealed in due course. It MAY be better to have different owners (overall i think it will), but I doubt much will change financially (i.e. use of debt)

[Alpha]

Not sure if this has been posted already...

Brazilian fans hit out at Liverpool owner
Rory Smith 27/01/2008

Tom Hicks left a legacy of furious fans, broken promises and legal wrangling after his first attempt to crack football fell apart, it has been claimed.

The Texan tycoon's firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst bought into Brazilian giants Corinthians in 1999 in a bid to tap in to the lucrative South American market.

Just as at Liverpool, they promised a state-of-the-art stadium - but were soon left facing a fans' backlash. And when Hicks's company struggled to make the venture profitable, they pulled out after just three years.

Hicks and co-owner George Gillett revealed a £350million re-financing deal for Liverpool last week which means work can commence on the club's new 70,000-seat stadium. But a source close to Hicks said: "The company invested heavily in South America throughout the 1990s and the deal with Corinthians was part of that.

"But the funds they set up did not return money for their investors and it went downhill completely after 9/11.

"Hicks, Muse lost a great deal of money on the investment and it was large factor in Tom 'retiring' from that company."

Through its subsidiary PanAmerican Sports Teams, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst invested more than £40m in Corinthians in the first year of what was supposedly a 10-year partnership alone.

The deal was part of a project to invest in Brazilian football and broadcast it all over Latin America on the Hicks-owned TV station PSN. The cash injection fired Corinthians to victory in the 2000 World Club Cup and even gave the club the funds to sign Brazil stars Dida and Luizao.

But the new regime infuriated fans when they started selling off star players the following summer and announced plans to change Corinthians' famous black-and-white kit.

One Brazilian source said: "The Americans came into Corinthians with a lot of money but did not understand the way football works. They brought in a strong team of advisers to administer the club but the way they did things was very American, in the crudest sense. The model they wanted does not function here. Things had to be done their way.

"I can understand why Liverpool fans are angry with Hicks - but perhaps they should ask why their football industry has come to such a point that he was able to buy the club."

Hicks announced on Friday a £350m refinancing plan which strengthened his grip on Anfield despite fury from fans over a perceived lack of backing for boss Rafa Benitez. The deal loads £105m worth of debt on to the club, including £60m for work on the much-delayed new stadium.

But Corinthians fans never saw the 45,000-seat ground on the outskirts of Sao Paulo which Hicks, Muse promised them in 1999. Brazilian pundit Paulo Vinicius Coelho said: "They promised a new ground and it never arrived."

Even though Hicks, Muse pulled out of the club in 2003 after a row with a local partner over funding, it was not until December 28 2007 that the legal wrangling between the company and Corinthians finally ended.

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/...8487-20300636/

[baz87]

Thought he was supposed to be on holiday?

If he has left - and Gillett is thinking of selling - then presumably all will become revealed in due course. It MAY be better to have different owners (overall i think it will), but I doubt much will change financially (i.e. use of debt)

DIC stated at the time of the failed bid that they felt the yanks were going to put us into a lot of debt, implying that they weren't. It was thought that DIC were looking to sell a minority stake in the club to raise cash rather than to borrow all the money. Also even if DIC were to borrow the cash, they'd have far greater bargaining power over the banks than the yanks do and will thus be able to command a better interest rate but it would be more likely that they'd (like they have in other takeovers) use Dubai state funds and would get a considerable lower interest rate.

Any of the above ways would mean we're in a better position regarding debt.

[scouse lad]

Bascombe 250m this week, was it 350m last week? BBc 500m last week too. No one has a ****in clue.