Hicks and Gillett lift restraining order, now for Liverpool’s sprint to the finish
Tom Hicks and George Gillett have lifted the Texas restraining order that was blocking the sale of Liverpool Football Club, but – as ever – this complicated saga doesn’t end there.
The Reds owners risked being held in contempt of court and going to jail if they persevered with the order after it was so emphatically overruled in the High Court in London yesterday, and should officially see it withdrawn by Judge Jim Jordan in Dallas at a hearing at 1pm BST today. However, the real fun and games look set to begin there.
With Gillett’s shares in the club already in the hands of US-based hedge fund Mill Financial, Hicks now appears set to follow suit and offload his shares to the hedge fund.
Such a move could then see Mill pay off the club’s £237million of debt to the Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS] and effectively become the Reds’ new owners, thwarting New England Sports Ventures’ [NESV] bid in the process.
Effectively, the race is now on to pay RBS the money they are owed – a hugely ironic turn of events given that the bank have spent over three-and-a-half years waiting to be paid the money owed to them by Liverpool.
Upon a stroke of Judge Jordan’s pen, it will be legal to sell Liverpool.
With a deal already agreed with NESV, the Reds board are likely to sprint to the finish and do a deal with John W Henry’s Boston-based company as soon as they possibly can, but Hicks’ dealings with Mill Financial ensure that there are still likely to be legal issues involved.
RBS’ preferred buyer is NESV, and there remains the possibility that they will refuse Mill’s money – if they haven’t done so already.
Liverpool’s sale to NESV is still the most likely outcome by the end of the day, but another day at the High Court looks likely in the future.
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