Premier League News: Chinese group QSL Sports Ltd. looking to take over Liverpool
English Premier League club Liverpool may be bought by a Chinese company in one of the most lucrative football deals ever. Hong-Kong based investment company QSL Sports Ltd’s head Kenny Huang is reportedly interested in taking over Liverpool (that has been up for sale since April).
The deal is believed to be completed before the transfer window closes at the end of August 30, 2010. The club’s board will sit down and sanction the deal for the takeover to go ahead.
Huang has long been interested in the deal, and has been in talks with the Royal Bank of Scotland in a bid to take complete control of Liverpool.
Liverpool’s co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett owe the Royal Bank of Scotland 237 million pounds.
RBS, though, has said that the Hong-Kong group has not approached them directly regarding the bid. It is reported that representatives of RBS have been in contact with the Hong-Kong based group.
Huang will reportedly clear all Liverpool debts to RBS, and also hand manager Roy Hodgson a good amount of funds to do business in the transfer window.
Huang is reportedly insistent that the deal should be completed within 2 weeks; he wants to be in charge of the club with time on his hand ahead of the closing date of the transfer window. Huang wants to invest good money to buy players and strengthen the squad ahead of the new season. The business tycoon has big plans for the club, and has also promised to build a new stadium for the club as soon as possible.
Huang has been in the business of sports for a while in China. He is a very well reputed name in the sports of Basketball and Baseball.
Huang’s QSL Sports Limited is also a partner of an American basketball franchise (Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team). He is also involved in American baseball, as he has a deal with New York Yankees baseball outfit.
Back in 1998, he was the first man to become part of the New York Stock Exchange after graduating from Chinese mainland.
Earlier in 2008, Huang reportedly refused to buy Liverpool, saying that the estimated value of the club (that was around 650 million pounds) was too much. Now he values the club to be worth around 350 million pounds.
The American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillett took over Liverpool in February 2007. The deal was believed to be worth about 218.9 million pounds, out of which around 44.8 million were estimated to be club debts.
Hicks and Gillett, since taking over, have not had the best of times; the Liverpool faithfuls have constantly expressed their anger and disappointment over the huge debts of the club.
In October 2009, several hundred fans got together and protested against the club owners during a match against Manchester United.
The supporters have long said that the owners do not have the interest of the club at heart, and are only treating it as a business venture.
The relationship between fans and the owners got even worse when Tom Hicks Jr., the son of the club’s co-owner, was involved in a controversy of sending angry emails to fans. After that incident, Tom Hicks Jr. had to resign and there was a major restructuring done by the parent company Kop Holdings.
There has also been friction between the two owners: in their early months at Liverpool, the two had several problems and said that relations between them had become unworkable.
The news of the Chinese group coming in would be a welcome one for the fans. If the deal actually does go through, there may be a whole new beginning for the 18 time league champions.
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