Subrata Roy is ready to increase the pace of his bid for Liverpool. A spokesman for Sahara, the Indian tycoon’s company, declined to comment on the takeover attempt yesterday, but sources in India confirmed the interest while saying that discussions were at an early stage.
Roy’s bid was revealed in these pages yesterday, along with a rival offer from Mukesh Ambani. Reliance Industries, Ambani’s company, issued a denial yesterday, but The Times understands that India’s wealthiest man remains in the background as a potential investor. Both bids offered to take on Liverpool’s £237 million debt in exchange for 51 per cent of the club.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr are unlikely to accept such terms, although pressure on the co-owners from Royal Bank of Scotland to pay off £100 million of the debt by July is growing. The bank has become increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Americans to bring new investment to Anfield.
Merrill Lynch and Rothschild have been charged with finding an injection of fresh cash, but the Americans have approached other merchant banks over the past month as they cast their net ever wider in search of investment.
Christian Purslow was enlisted at Anfield last summer with a brief to bring in new investment. Purslow’s background is in private equity, but so far the managing director has been unsuccessful in his efforts, despite repeated assurances that the arrival of funds is imminent.
Sources inside the club have claimed that up to £125 million is about to be pumped into Anfield, but few potential investors have found the prospect of taking a minority share to prop up the dysfunctional reign of Gillett and Hicks palatable.
Roy is the son of a sugar mill worker. He founded Sahara in 1978 with £5 and a scooter used to zip between clients in the poor northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It is now one of India’s largest savings groups and forms the bedrock of a sprawling conglomerate worth more than £5 billion.
The entrepreneur styles himself “chairman and Managing Worker” and Sahara sponsors the India cricket team. It also backs the national hockey side and has made an “emotional commitment towards betterment of sports in India”, in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October. The group was rumoured to be looking at replacing AIG as Manchester United’s shirt sponsor.
A consummate networker, Roy’s ties to senior politicians, businessmen and celebrities are legendary. His business, which spans real estate, satellite television and film, remains based on an army of door-to-door agents who collect deposits from their customers and reinvest them on their behalf.
He has not been immune to criticism, most strikingly that Sahara resembles a cult more than a business. Its 700,000 workers are told that they are members of a “family” and greet each other by putting their right arm across their chest and saying “Sahara pranam” (greetings Sahara).
As head of the family, Roy likes to play his cards close to his chest. Sahara is privately owned and its accounts are not fully accessible, traits that critics say has made it overly opaque. He seldom grants interviews.
Roy’s bid was revealed in these pages yesterday, along with a rival offer from Mukesh Ambani. Reliance Industries, Ambani’s company, issued a denial yesterday, but The Times understands that India’s wealthiest man remains in the background as a potential investor. Both bids offered to take on Liverpool’s £237 million debt in exchange for 51 per cent of the club.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr are unlikely to accept such terms, although pressure on the co-owners from Royal Bank of Scotland to pay off £100 million of the debt by July is growing. The bank has become increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Americans to bring new investment to Anfield.
Merrill Lynch and Rothschild have been charged with finding an injection of fresh cash, but the Americans have approached other merchant banks over the past month as they cast their net ever wider in search of investment.
Christian Purslow was enlisted at Anfield last summer with a brief to bring in new investment. Purslow’s background is in private equity, but so far the managing director has been unsuccessful in his efforts, despite repeated assurances that the arrival of funds is imminent.
Sources inside the club have claimed that up to £125 million is about to be pumped into Anfield, but few potential investors have found the prospect of taking a minority share to prop up the dysfunctional reign of Gillett and Hicks palatable.
Roy is the son of a sugar mill worker. He founded Sahara in 1978 with £5 and a scooter used to zip between clients in the poor northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It is now one of India’s largest savings groups and forms the bedrock of a sprawling conglomerate worth more than £5 billion.
The entrepreneur styles himself “chairman and Managing Worker” and Sahara sponsors the India cricket team. It also backs the national hockey side and has made an “emotional commitment towards betterment of sports in India”, in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October. The group was rumoured to be looking at replacing AIG as Manchester United’s shirt sponsor.
A consummate networker, Roy’s ties to senior politicians, businessmen and celebrities are legendary. His business, which spans real estate, satellite television and film, remains based on an army of door-to-door agents who collect deposits from their customers and reinvest them on their behalf.
He has not been immune to criticism, most strikingly that Sahara resembles a cult more than a business. Its 700,000 workers are told that they are members of a “family” and greet each other by putting their right arm across their chest and saying “Sahara pranam” (greetings Sahara).
As head of the family, Roy likes to play his cards close to his chest. Sahara is privately owned and its accounts are not fully accessible, traits that critics say has made it overly opaque. He seldom grants interviews.
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