Tom Hicks has revealed that he hopes Liverpool will be sold for as much as £800 million, earning him and co-owner George Gillett up to four times their outlay and making the club his “most profitable investment”.
Hicks and Gillett, who bought Liverpool for £219 million in 2007, officially announced their intention to sell the club on Friday, appointing the British Airways chairman, Martin Broughton, to the same position at Anfield to oversee the process.
Liverpool have been granted a six-month extension to refinance their £237 million debt by the Royal Bank of Scotland so potential owners can be identified, but Hicks’s insistence that the club can still attract a premium price is likely to rule out any hope of a swift end to the Americans’ unpopular regime.
“Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I have ever made,” Hicks said, claiming that there was a strong business rationale to buy the club. “I should make four times my money. Liverpool has been the most rewarding in so many ways and the most painful in so many ways. When you feel fans turn against you, it is very frustrating.
“The fans blame the owners [for failures on the pitch], but the reality is that we have had injuries to our key players and we just were not a very good team without them.”
Precedent and mathematics suggest Hicks may struggle to find a buyer to meet his expectations. Though Friday’s announcement represents the first time Liverpool have formally been put up for sale since the Americans’ 2007 takeover, talks have been held over a complete takeover on two previous occasions - with Dubai Investment Capital and the Kuwaiti Al-Kharafi family.
On both occasions, the asking price, believed to be in the region of £500 million, proved prohibitive.
Their reasoning for increasing that valuation again as they make their first concerted, unified attempt to offload Liverpool was made plain in the statement which announced their departure. Under their tenure, revenues have increased by 55 per cent, commercial income by 83 per cent and operating profit by 60 per cent.
Yet according to the precedent set by their own takeover, the estimated value of the club is its revenue multiplied by a factor of 1.8. According to figures released by Deloitte and Liverpool’s last posted revenues, their own method would value the club at about £295 million.
Though sources at the club this week intimated there was no set asking price – insisting value would be determined by the rules of the open market – and Broughton was adamant he had been engaged to find a buyer at a “reasonable” price, Hicks’s statement suggested that his and the new chairman’s definitions of “reasonable” may vary wildly.
Selling Liverpool at a price deemed suitable by its owners is likely to be further complicated by the team’s failure to fulfill manager Rafael Benítez’s “guarantee” of a Champions League slot for next season.
Although Broughton believes no buyer would be able “to take advantage in a financial sense” of the decrease in revenue, sources at the club have indicated that short-term success on the pitch would be taken into consideration.
The club’s supporters’ union, Spirit of Shankly, last night suggested Hicks’s statement proved he was “not living in the real world”. A spokesman added: “To suggest he and George Gillett have quadrupled the value of the club in the last three years is simply not realistic. No potential investor will pay that much because the club is not worth that much.”
Hicks and Gillett, who bought Liverpool for £219 million in 2007, officially announced their intention to sell the club on Friday, appointing the British Airways chairman, Martin Broughton, to the same position at Anfield to oversee the process.
Liverpool have been granted a six-month extension to refinance their £237 million debt by the Royal Bank of Scotland so potential owners can be identified, but Hicks’s insistence that the club can still attract a premium price is likely to rule out any hope of a swift end to the Americans’ unpopular regime.
“Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I have ever made,” Hicks said, claiming that there was a strong business rationale to buy the club. “I should make four times my money. Liverpool has been the most rewarding in so many ways and the most painful in so many ways. When you feel fans turn against you, it is very frustrating.
“The fans blame the owners [for failures on the pitch], but the reality is that we have had injuries to our key players and we just were not a very good team without them.”
Precedent and mathematics suggest Hicks may struggle to find a buyer to meet his expectations. Though Friday’s announcement represents the first time Liverpool have formally been put up for sale since the Americans’ 2007 takeover, talks have been held over a complete takeover on two previous occasions - with Dubai Investment Capital and the Kuwaiti Al-Kharafi family.
On both occasions, the asking price, believed to be in the region of £500 million, proved prohibitive.
Their reasoning for increasing that valuation again as they make their first concerted, unified attempt to offload Liverpool was made plain in the statement which announced their departure. Under their tenure, revenues have increased by 55 per cent, commercial income by 83 per cent and operating profit by 60 per cent.
Yet according to the precedent set by their own takeover, the estimated value of the club is its revenue multiplied by a factor of 1.8. According to figures released by Deloitte and Liverpool’s last posted revenues, their own method would value the club at about £295 million.
Though sources at the club this week intimated there was no set asking price – insisting value would be determined by the rules of the open market – and Broughton was adamant he had been engaged to find a buyer at a “reasonable” price, Hicks’s statement suggested that his and the new chairman’s definitions of “reasonable” may vary wildly.
Selling Liverpool at a price deemed suitable by its owners is likely to be further complicated by the team’s failure to fulfill manager Rafael Benítez’s “guarantee” of a Champions League slot for next season.
Although Broughton believes no buyer would be able “to take advantage in a financial sense” of the decrease in revenue, sources at the club have indicated that short-term success on the pitch would be taken into consideration.
The club’s supporters’ union, Spirit of Shankly, last night suggested Hicks’s statement proved he was “not living in the real world”. A spokesman added: “To suggest he and George Gillett have quadrupled the value of the club in the last three years is simply not realistic. No potential investor will pay that much because the club is not worth that much.”
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