Kenny Huang withdraws Liverpool takeover bid
Those Liverpool fans who thought that it was all too good to be true had their worst fears proven when Kenny Huang confirmed that he was pulling out of his takeover bid for Liverpool.
The Hong Kong businessman issued a statement on Friday evening to say that he and his company, QSL Sports, had elected to withdraw from the takeover talks that they had been holding with representatives of the Anfield club, leaving the future at Liverpool looking increasingly uncertain.
QSL Sports had been the first group to break cover and openly declare and interest in buying the club from its present owners, the Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.
The statement issued by Huang posed far more questions than it revealed answers beyond the fact that the recent optimism surrounding Liverpool’s future had been temporary. However, it is believed that Huang may have made the decision after talks with Liverpool’s main creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The communiqué said: “Over the past few months we learned first-hand that Liverpool has a very special place in the hearts of millions of fans around the world. We concluded that a plan that properly capitalises the business and provides funds for a new stadium and player-related costs would allow Liverpool FC to provide its great fans with the success they deserve.
"Our strategy and unique ability to expand the fan base in Asia would also have been of benefit to all. We regret that we will not have the opportunity to implement this strategy.
"We thank the many Liverpool fans who expressed support for our efforts and wish the club great success in the years to come. I am now considering my future options and will be making no further comment at this time."
The QSL bid, which Huang never confirmed had the backing of the Chinese government, appeared to be the answer to the prayers of Liverpool supporters when it became public knowledge. Huang came into the reckoning on a proposed manifesto of making funds available for player acquisitions, the building of a new stadium but firstly clearing the club’s debts – which currently stand at £237million to RBS and having to pay out £2.5million a week in penalty fees.
It is not clear whether Hicks and Gillett, who took over the Premier League club in 2007, are financing those payments themselves or simply drawing further financial resources from the club’s coffers. Either way the club is paying the price.
When Hicks and Gillett decided that they were prepared to sell Liverpool in April, with debts of £351.4million, they brought in Martin Broughton, the British Airways chairman, as an experienced pair of hands from the City to manage the deal.
There had been murmurings of possible interest but the most concrete of these came when Huang submitted a takeover bid at the start of August. But with Broughton deliberating, amid claims that there were other “live” offers on the table, the process became stalled, with many observers believing that the owners were holding out for a bid that would be on more advantageous terms to themselves because the Huang offer valued the club at around £325million.
An initial deadline for a takeover of Liverpool last Friday passed, but the deal still appeared to be on to the point that there were in just the last 24 hours that Peter Kenyon, the former Chelsea and Manchester United chief executive, had been recruited by Huang to help conclude the deal.
It seems unlikely that this is a tactic by Huang to force the current owners to the negotiating table and Broughton must now hope that one of the others bids that he and the Anfield board have supposedly been considering comes to fruition.
The front-runners appear to be GameDay, the Montreal-based group behind Yahya Kirdi, the Syrian businessman, which may become a serious contender if it can show proof of funds and Rhône Capital, the American private equity group.
However, neither has shown the colour of its money – be it red or otherwise.
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