. 29 (Bloomberg) -- A group headed by a Saudi Arabian prince is in talks to buy part or all of English Premier League soccer team Liverpool.
Prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah al-Saud, the chairman of Saudi sports investor F6, watched Liverpool’s 6-1 win over Hull three days ago as a guest of co-owner George Gillett. The Al Riyadh newspaper reported yesterday that F6 was poised to pay between 200 million pounds ($319 million) and 350 million pounds for 50 percent of England’s most successful team.
“Those are some of the numbers that have been initially floated around,” Barry Didato, director of strategic investment at F6, said in an interview. “Everything right now is on the table in terms of discussion.”
A timeframe for any decision on a possible investment in Liverpool could be made “within three to four months,” Didato added. He wouldn’t say whether F6 had met with Liverpool’s joint-owner Tom Hicks. Jonathon Brill, a spokesman for Gillett and Hicks, declined to comment.
Didato said F6 also signed a memorandum of understanding with Gillett about a possible investment in Nascar’s Richard Petty Motorsports, moving one of the sport’s races to the Gulf and also setting up soccer academies in the Middle East and North Africa “at a level the world has never seen.”
Gillett and Hicks, who bought the 18-time English champion and five-time European Cup winner in 2007 for 174 million pounds, are looking to raise funds to restart work on a new 72,000-seat stadium and reduce debt of 240 million pounds with Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and Wachovia Corp. That work stalled after credit dried up during the global economic crisis.
‘Complexities’
“There’s some complexities to this,” Didato added. The investors are looking at the team’s debt, the current squad and the club’s facilities, he said. Didato said Prince Faisal also needed to be convinced about the “chemistry” of a possible partnership with two owners who have had disputes in the past.
“It’s very important for his highness to have a good partnership,” the F6 official said. “You don’t want to get into a case of where you’re entering the scene of family counseling: We don’t want to be there.”
Gillett and Hicks have also been subjected to fan protests because of the delays in building the new stadium and backtracking on a pledge not to burden the club with debt used to fund their acquisition.
“To make it work at a partnership level we would need to have a great relationship with the ownership,” Didato said. “We would also have to have a shared vision, not only with the owners, but management and hopefully the fans as well. If his highness gets involved at that level he’s involved for the long run. It’s not a hit and run.”
Prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah al-Saud, the chairman of Saudi sports investor F6, watched Liverpool’s 6-1 win over Hull three days ago as a guest of co-owner George Gillett. The Al Riyadh newspaper reported yesterday that F6 was poised to pay between 200 million pounds ($319 million) and 350 million pounds for 50 percent of England’s most successful team.
“Those are some of the numbers that have been initially floated around,” Barry Didato, director of strategic investment at F6, said in an interview. “Everything right now is on the table in terms of discussion.”
A timeframe for any decision on a possible investment in Liverpool could be made “within three to four months,” Didato added. He wouldn’t say whether F6 had met with Liverpool’s joint-owner Tom Hicks. Jonathon Brill, a spokesman for Gillett and Hicks, declined to comment.
Didato said F6 also signed a memorandum of understanding with Gillett about a possible investment in Nascar’s Richard Petty Motorsports, moving one of the sport’s races to the Gulf and also setting up soccer academies in the Middle East and North Africa “at a level the world has never seen.”
Gillett and Hicks, who bought the 18-time English champion and five-time European Cup winner in 2007 for 174 million pounds, are looking to raise funds to restart work on a new 72,000-seat stadium and reduce debt of 240 million pounds with Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and Wachovia Corp. That work stalled after credit dried up during the global economic crisis.
‘Complexities’
“There’s some complexities to this,” Didato added. The investors are looking at the team’s debt, the current squad and the club’s facilities, he said. Didato said Prince Faisal also needed to be convinced about the “chemistry” of a possible partnership with two owners who have had disputes in the past.
“It’s very important for his highness to have a good partnership,” the F6 official said. “You don’t want to get into a case of where you’re entering the scene of family counseling: We don’t want to be there.”
Gillett and Hicks have also been subjected to fan protests because of the delays in building the new stadium and backtracking on a pledge not to burden the club with debt used to fund their acquisition.
“To make it work at a partnership level we would need to have a great relationship with the ownership,” Didato said. “We would also have to have a shared vision, not only with the owners, but management and hopefully the fans as well. If his highness gets involved at that level he’s involved for the long run. It’s not a hit and run.”
if iys good enough for chelski, scum, madrid and city why not us?
there will be no winning.
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