Liverpool’s co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett will this week appoint Barclays Capital, the bank’s investment arm, to begin the search for new owners after both agreed to discuss a complete sale of the club.
Though the pair had previously engaged Merrill Lynch and Rothschild in a bid to attract minority investors to Liverpool, the arrival of Barcap to invite new offers for the club and the forthcoming installation of Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, as the club’s chairman is understood to be evidence that the Americans are preparing to withdraw from Anfield.
Both appointments are likely to be confirmed in the coming days as Hicks and Gillett bid to present a united front to potential suitors. That both had approached different banks in the past to sell all or part of their own stakes is thought to have been a considerable obstacle to attracting investment.
That search, led by Merrill Lynch, Rothschild and then Christian Purslow, the club’s managing director, has acquired a new sense of urgency in recent weeks after it emerged the Royal Bank of Scotland, holders of Liverpool’s £237 million debts, had made refinancing those loans in July conditional on the club securing £100 million of fresh investment.
The only concrete offer received by Liverpool, though, from the New York-based fund management firm Rhône Group, was effectively rejected last week amid suggestions the proposal – £110 million for a 40 per cent stake in the club – did not meet the Americans’ asking price.
That is likely to remain a source of concern for potential buyers, despite the appointment of Barcap and the arrival of Broughton to ease the sale.
Though the latest development is believed to represent the beginning of the end for Hicks and Gillett, they have twice held discussions over a complete sale in their three-year tenure at Liverpool, once with Dubai Investment Capital and once with the Qatari Al-Ansari family.
On both occasions, their asking price proved prohibitive, with the Americans thought to have demanded around £500 million for a club they bought for 220 million in February 2007.
Estimates drawn from guideline figures released by Deloitte suggest that, applying the same formula Hicks and Gillett used to place a value on the club when conducting their own takeover, Liverpool is now worth around £295 million.
New investment cannot come quickly enough for the Merseyside club. Trailing fourth-placed Manchester City by four points and having played a game more, Liverpool are faced with the sobering prospect of their place in the league hierarchy coming into line with their place in the financial hierarchy.
Never exactly a club that embraced modernisation, off the pitch Liverpool have been on pause as the rest of the Premier League has progressed. It has got to the stage where Benítez cannot even guarantee that the “spine of the team” — and for that read Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres — will be at the club next season.
“We will try [to keep them], we will see what happens,” he said. “But I cannot guarantee it – it depends on the investors.”
Two seasons ago Liverpool’s wage bill was £10 million behind Arsenal, £30 million behind Manchester United and £80 million behind Chelsea. That gap will have grown and Manchester City will have also overtaken them with Tottenham closing in rapidly. In financial terms they have fallen behind the curve.
“It is not easy to compete with Manchester City and Chelsea,” Benítez said. “I always say that we have to do almost everything perfectly. If we make a mistake in the transfer window it is extra difficult for us to manage.”
The obvious example at Liverpool is Alberto Aquilani, whose £17 million signing has been used as an example of Benitez’s inadequacy in the market.
The failure of Aquilani to replace Xabi Alonso is exacerbated by the thinness of Benitez’s squad. Manchester United have signed Mexican striker Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling of Fulham for fees that could total £19 million ahead of next season and neither is expected to come into the first XI. “No, we can’t do this,” Benítez said. “They even have a player worth £12 million [Zoran Tosic] out on loan.” Still, Benítez is, to use his own choice of idiom, trying to “wheel and deal”. He said that the signing of Milan Jovanovic from Standard Liege was “very close” but then that is a free transfer.
If City beat them to fourth then the ambition of Sheikh Mansour is bound to kick back in and the A-list players he wants might start to buy into the 'project’. Liverpool could be blown out of the water this summer.
Though the pair had previously engaged Merrill Lynch and Rothschild in a bid to attract minority investors to Liverpool, the arrival of Barcap to invite new offers for the club and the forthcoming installation of Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, as the club’s chairman is understood to be evidence that the Americans are preparing to withdraw from Anfield.
Both appointments are likely to be confirmed in the coming days as Hicks and Gillett bid to present a united front to potential suitors. That both had approached different banks in the past to sell all or part of their own stakes is thought to have been a considerable obstacle to attracting investment.
That search, led by Merrill Lynch, Rothschild and then Christian Purslow, the club’s managing director, has acquired a new sense of urgency in recent weeks after it emerged the Royal Bank of Scotland, holders of Liverpool’s £237 million debts, had made refinancing those loans in July conditional on the club securing £100 million of fresh investment.
The only concrete offer received by Liverpool, though, from the New York-based fund management firm Rhône Group, was effectively rejected last week amid suggestions the proposal – £110 million for a 40 per cent stake in the club – did not meet the Americans’ asking price.
That is likely to remain a source of concern for potential buyers, despite the appointment of Barcap and the arrival of Broughton to ease the sale.
Though the latest development is believed to represent the beginning of the end for Hicks and Gillett, they have twice held discussions over a complete sale in their three-year tenure at Liverpool, once with Dubai Investment Capital and once with the Qatari Al-Ansari family.
On both occasions, their asking price proved prohibitive, with the Americans thought to have demanded around £500 million for a club they bought for 220 million in February 2007.
Estimates drawn from guideline figures released by Deloitte suggest that, applying the same formula Hicks and Gillett used to place a value on the club when conducting their own takeover, Liverpool is now worth around £295 million.
New investment cannot come quickly enough for the Merseyside club. Trailing fourth-placed Manchester City by four points and having played a game more, Liverpool are faced with the sobering prospect of their place in the league hierarchy coming into line with their place in the financial hierarchy.
Never exactly a club that embraced modernisation, off the pitch Liverpool have been on pause as the rest of the Premier League has progressed. It has got to the stage where Benítez cannot even guarantee that the “spine of the team” — and for that read Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres — will be at the club next season.
“We will try [to keep them], we will see what happens,” he said. “But I cannot guarantee it – it depends on the investors.”
Two seasons ago Liverpool’s wage bill was £10 million behind Arsenal, £30 million behind Manchester United and £80 million behind Chelsea. That gap will have grown and Manchester City will have also overtaken them with Tottenham closing in rapidly. In financial terms they have fallen behind the curve.
“It is not easy to compete with Manchester City and Chelsea,” Benítez said. “I always say that we have to do almost everything perfectly. If we make a mistake in the transfer window it is extra difficult for us to manage.”
The obvious example at Liverpool is Alberto Aquilani, whose £17 million signing has been used as an example of Benitez’s inadequacy in the market.
The failure of Aquilani to replace Xabi Alonso is exacerbated by the thinness of Benitez’s squad. Manchester United have signed Mexican striker Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling of Fulham for fees that could total £19 million ahead of next season and neither is expected to come into the first XI. “No, we can’t do this,” Benítez said. “They even have a player worth £12 million [Zoran Tosic] out on loan.” Still, Benítez is, to use his own choice of idiom, trying to “wheel and deal”. He said that the signing of Milan Jovanovic from Standard Liege was “very close” but then that is a free transfer.
If City beat them to fourth then the ambition of Sheikh Mansour is bound to kick back in and the A-list players he wants might start to buy into the 'project’. Liverpool could be blown out of the water this summer.
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