More dramatic twists in Liverpool ownership saga
Just a day after it appeared that they were entering the final phase of their seemingly never-ending ownership tale, Liverpool Football Club have been plunged into yet more uncertainty this morning.
Reports claim that American-based hedge fund Mill Financial are effectively the club’s new owners.
Mill have bought all of co-owner Tom Hicks’ shares, to go along with George Gillett’s shares that they purchased last week, after the American defaulted on the loan he owed to the Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS].
If Mill can find the money to pay RBS the debts that they are owed by the club – around £240million – then they will by default become Liverpool’s new owners, edging out prospective new owners New England Sports Ventures [NESV] in the process.
However, it is extremely unlikely that Mill possess the funds to run the club, let alone pay off the debts, and so it has been suggested that they are acting on behalf of another, unnamed interested party who will immediately take the Reds off their hands. Speculation has claimed that Chinese business Kenny Huang could be behind the developments, although this is unconfirmed.
The news comes as Liverpool prepare to go back to the High Court this afternoon, just a day after defeating Hicks and Gillett in yesterday’s court battle to reinstate the current board.
Today, Reds chairman Martin Broughton and the two other English members of the board – Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre – are attempting to overturn last night’s astonishing injunction placed upon them by a Texan court.
A temporary restraining order was placed upon the club and NESV by Dallas Court Judge Jim Jordan – who, it has been discovered, has received donations in the past from companies that include Hicks’ associates – preventing the takeover from happening.
Liverpool remain confident that they will win the case, but the involvement of Mill has now thrown a spanner in the works of the takeover deal.
The club, the Premier League and NESV all remain confident that a deal can be done, but the last cards dealt by the mischief making Hicks and Gillett may prove the winning hand.
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