I have learned that John Muse, the American private equity tycoon, is to play a leading role in an offer to buy a 40 per cent stake in Liverpool Football Club.
Muse has been lined up to co-invest alongside Rhone Capital, a US investment firm which last week tabled the first formal proposal to inject new funds into the Premier League club.
What I'm not clear about is how much money Muse, who is now chairman of HM Capital Partners, another private equity group, would invest under the Rhone proposal, which would see it paying about £110m in exchange for a 40 per cent stake.
The news is nonetheless significant because Muse was one of the founders of Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, the buyout firm where Tom Hicks, one of Liverpool's current co-owners, also made his name and fortune.
Hicks and Muse are said by people who know them to have had an at times uneasy relationship, although it seems logical to assume that they are on decent terms now.
After all, Hicks and George Gillett, the current shareholders, will continue to collectively own a majority of the equity in the club even if the terms of Rhone's bid would hand it effective control.
Christian Purslow, the highly-regarded managing director of Liverpool, has set an Easter deadline for serious offers. There has been plenty of speculative interest from around the world but I'd be surprised if there were more than three concrete proposals for Purslow to consider at that stage.
Liverpool had some decent news last night when they progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, suggesting they may yet salvage some silverware from a dismal season. Whether the news off the pitch during the next two months remains unclear.
Rhone and Muse both declined to comment today.
Muse has been lined up to co-invest alongside Rhone Capital, a US investment firm which last week tabled the first formal proposal to inject new funds into the Premier League club.
What I'm not clear about is how much money Muse, who is now chairman of HM Capital Partners, another private equity group, would invest under the Rhone proposal, which would see it paying about £110m in exchange for a 40 per cent stake.
The news is nonetheless significant because Muse was one of the founders of Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, the buyout firm where Tom Hicks, one of Liverpool's current co-owners, also made his name and fortune.
Hicks and Muse are said by people who know them to have had an at times uneasy relationship, although it seems logical to assume that they are on decent terms now.
After all, Hicks and George Gillett, the current shareholders, will continue to collectively own a majority of the equity in the club even if the terms of Rhone's bid would hand it effective control.
Christian Purslow, the highly-regarded managing director of Liverpool, has set an Easter deadline for serious offers. There has been plenty of speculative interest from around the world but I'd be surprised if there were more than three concrete proposals for Purslow to consider at that stage.
Liverpool had some decent news last night when they progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, suggesting they may yet salvage some silverware from a dismal season. Whether the news off the pitch during the next two months remains unclear.
Rhone and Muse both declined to comment today.
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