Thursday, August 05, 2010

Royal Bank Of Scotland Deny Discussions With Potential Bidders For Liverpool Takeover

The Royal Bank of Scotland has denied having any discussions with potential buyers of Liverpool.

A recent name to be linked with a takeover of the debt ridden Merseyside club was businessman Kenny Huang, who has been reported to be harbouring a serious interest in leading a Chinese purchase of the Reds.

In the meantime, speculation was rife that the RBS could have been involved in the talks as the current owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, owe a significant sum of money to the bank.

However, club chairman Martin Broughton recently maintained that the financial negotiations will be handled by Barclays Capital, the bank mandated to run the sale process.

A spokesman for RBS is quoted by The Herald as saying: "The guy [Huang] contacted us and we put him onto the club and the advisers. We have not had negotiations with him at all, there is a due process for any bidder."

Now it appears that Huang is being rivalled in the race to become the new owner at Anfield, as Sky Sports News claims that Yahya Kirdi, who represents Middle East & Canadian investors, is close to buying Liverpool.

It has been reported in the past that Kirdi knows co-owner George Gillett and his son Foster, and is also believed to have been present in January to watch the Reds play Stoke City in what was an underwhelming season last time out.

Meanwhile, The Telegraph claims that a New York-based private equity firm, the Rhone Group, have rejoined the race to take control of the Merseyside club.

It is believed that the Rhone Group had previously made an approach to buy the club towards the latter stages of last season, offering £100 million to assume 40 per cent control - leaving the two current owners with 30 per cent each.

However, any potential bid that may have been made at the time did not reach fruition as no takeover took place prior to the conclusion of the 2009-10 Premier League season.

But now the Americans are said to have returned to compete with Huang and Kirdi to assume control of Liverpool.

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