Lastest !! Liverpool will be taken-over ....
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DIC to seal £400m deal for Liverpool in three to four weeks By Jason Burt and Ian Herbert
Tuesday, 25 March 2008The long pursuit of Liverpool by Dubai International Capital is set to end within the next "three to four weeks" with the investment group taking full control of the Premier League club, according to a source close to the proposed deal.
DIC is understood to be confident that it will finally buy the club for £400m – and is looking to involve a "third party" investor, who would take a minority stake, as part of its business plan. The company is believed to already have an agreement in place with the club's co-owner George Gillett Jnr to buy his share. It is also confident that Tom Hicks, who owns the other 50 per cent, is now close to agreeing to sell to them even though he cut off negotiations earlier this month insisting he would not sell even a minority stake. Hicks also said he would block any attempt by Gillett to sell.
Although DIC, which is the private equity investment arm of the Dubai government, realises it is paying a high price for Liverpool – Gillett and Hicks bought the club for £219m 13 months ago – such is its determination to succeed that it wants to push ahead. "It's not a cheap deal and Hicks is holding out but there is confidence that it will now finally happen," a source said. Matters have not been helped by the strained relationship between the two Americans.
DIC, whose chief executive Sameer Al-Ansari is a life-long fan of the club and who will join the board, has ambitious plans which could include involving some of its other investment vehicles in an attempt to raise its profile. The hotel group Jumeirah could be used as part of the development of a new stadium. A wide-ranging review of the club, and its revenue streams, will be conducted.
DIC came close to buying Liverpool before the Americans' acquisition and has tried to resume negotiations, on and off, ever since. The reason for the apparent confidence now could be that several of Hicks' loans are due for refinancing within two or three months. This may be the trigger for his main lender – believed to be JP Morgan – to force him back into talks with DIC and accept its offer for Liverpool.
The full level of the Texan's debt is unclear. But DIC sources believe he has been hit badly by the state of the financial markets in the United States, which has seen the value of assets which he has borrowed heavily against drop – in some cases by between 30 and 50 per cent. Were Hicks unable to refinance loans when, at a time of severe anxiety among financial institutions, they are due, JP Morgan could take over the assets Hicks has borrowed against or force a sale. Since bankers would tend to sell on such assets anyway the presence of a prospective buyer like DIC would be attractive to them.
Given how far apart DIC and Hicks seem to be, it would appear that any chance of the Arab consortium having a future role at Anfield would be through a complete takeover, with or without a junior partner.
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£400m is pocket money for the DIC .
Base on what had happened to the Hicks and Gilletts , a take-over is the best solution for me .
£400m or £200m , doesn't matter much to the Arabs .
The difference it will make ......
Liverpool will have the REAL luxury to buy players to take us where we were since 1990 .
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it still depends on who benitez wants to buy. i wouldnt want him to see him spend another 10m pounds on an average player.
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looks like rafa spent GBP17m for the dumbest man on the planet?
that being said, i wonder if this is out of the frying pan into the fire for LFC?
sometimes, clubs are ruined because of money...
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DIC will definitely sack Ah Ben at the end of the season.
The league title is missing from the cabinet in the boot room for too long.
They need it for the new stadium.
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Originally posted by the Bear:
looks like rafa spent GBP17m for the dumbest man on the planet?
that being said, i wonder if this is out of the frying pan into the fire for LFC?
sometimes, clubs are ruined because of money...
who is that?
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mascherano
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uhm is tat gd/bad news le
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Dunno it's good or bad if Rafa is sacked !
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if got budget like last time, rafa should have no prob
really, money corrupts
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Gillett reveals Hicks partnership is 'unworkable'
Liverpool owner George Gillett Jr, has revealed that his partnership with co-owner Tom Hicks has become 'unworkable'.
The American claims that the partnership has been under strain 'for some time' in an interview given to ESPN affiliate The Fan 590 in Canada and that Hicks' refusal to sell his stake in the club led to the Gillett family receiving death threats.
Gillett also revealed that he made an offer to sell his own stake to DIC, but the deal fell through.
'This partnership [with Hicks] has been unworkable for some time,' he said.
'We gave our partner a long period of time to try to make arrangements to buy us out. We didn't put pressure on him but he ultimately did not get to the finishing line.
'Because of the things he said, the fans' reaction has been so negative to him that if we sold to him it has been made untenable for us.
'He threatened to block me selling to Dubai - that was certainly one of the things that made the fans upset.'
'Lord knows DIC have the means with the oil prices going up every day that money was not even an issue,' he said. 'I think they would have been very responsible owners. But making that not possible or difficult didn't endear [Hicks] to the fans.'
Gillett also revealed how the number of e-mails he has received, have been directed mainly at Hicks. 'We get as many as 2,000 emails a week,' he said. 'Ninety five per cent of them have been directed at some of the comments made by my partner.'
'The fans don't want him to have even one share of my stake in the club, based on what they are sending to me. As a result of that we have received many phone calls in the middle of the night threatening our lives, death threats. A number came to the office and my son, Foster, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, have received them.'
Gillett did not reveal what he planned to do with his half share of Liverpool now, but said there were 'pieces on the chess board moving'.
'What I do know is that the fans and the fabled history of this club deserves better, and we are going to do whatever we can to prove that,' he said.