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Saudi prince: Liverpool talks near ‘final stage’

Prince Faisal says his company’s negotiations to buy shares in Liverpool are ongoing.

RIYADH – Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah said on Wednesday that talks over his F6 company buying a major stake in Liverpool are nearing conclusion, as club co-owner George Gillett visited Riyadh.

“Our negotiations to buy shares in Liverpool are ongoing, meetings are taking place and we might be in the final stages in the coming days,” Prince Faisal said.

Gillett, one of the two US owners of the legendary but heavily-indebted English team, was in Riyadh mainly to discuss a project regarding the creation of Liverpool soccer academies around the region, Prince Faisal said.

In recent weeks, both parties have admitted that potential investment from Faisal has been firmly on the agenda.

Gillett and club co-owner Tom Hicks have been seeking new investment in Liverpool after refinancing some of its large debt during the summer.

The two met with Prince Sultan bin Fahd, president of the Saudi Youth Welfare organisation and chairman of the Saudi League, on Wednesday.

“The purpose of the visit of the owner of Liverpool Football Club to Saudi Arabia is to understand the sports industry and to learn about the facilities and the potential of the main clubs in order to set up the Liverpool Academy in Saudi Arabia,” Prince Faisal said.

The agreement between F6, a sports marketing and investment firm controlled by Faisal, would also provide opportunities for young Saudi players to train at Liverpool, he said.

(Middle East Online)

It does seem that we may be about to say goodbye to George Gillett and that would mean half the job is done. With any luck Tom Hicks will find himself an isolated figure until the point when he decides that he can no longer deal with the fact that he hasn’t got a clue what he is doing and that everyone wants him to leave.

YNWA

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Tom Hicks and George Gillett, Liverpool’s co-owners, have agreed to forego their mutual veto on the sale of each other’s shares in a bid to break the stalemate surrounding the future of the club.

Under their current ownership arrangement, each partner would have to seek the other’s blessing to sell all, or part, of their shareholdings.
The remaining partner would also be entitled to two per cent of the other’s shares, thus becoming majority partner with any new investor. However, it is believed that Hicks has given Gillett his blessing to seek a buyer for his half of the club, although the Texan is thought to be determined to retain his 50 per cent.

Gillett is due to meet the Saudi prince, Faisal Al Fahd bin Abdullah bin Saud in the Middle East next week, when he is expected to continue discussions over the prince’s potential investment in Liverpool.
The two have already struck up a deal to launch a number of club academies across the Middle East and north Africa, and sources close to the prince confirmed this week he could take a stake in the club despite concerns over the level of debt.
Sources close to Hicks and Gillett, though, insist he is just one of a number of possible partners identified by Merrill Lynch and Rothschild, the investment banks jointly appointed by the American duo.
No deal with the prince is believed to be imminent, with discussions due with a number of other parties, although Hicks’ decision not to veto the idea of Gillett finding an exit route suggests that both parties have accepted their days as partners are numbered. (Daily Telegraph)

On the face of it, it seems that this is actually quite positive news. George Gillett could well be about to leave but some rumours suggest that Tom Hicks may actually try to fight for more control over the club, which doesn’t sound quite so promising. In an ideal world, once Prince Faisal gets his foot in the door he could buy out the remaining American owner, but that may be easier said than done.

The bickering Yanks are a real embarrassment to the club but with Gillett gone the power could go straight to Hicks’ head and then god knows where we will end up. It could be that Hicks see this as a good chance to make a mint from his share of the club and fingers crossed the Saudis will take full control in the long term.

This is not a case of showing blind faith to a party we know very little about, but more a case of anyone being preferable to Messrs Hicks and Gillett.

YNWA

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George Gillett will fly to the Middle East next week for negotiations over selling his stake in Liverpool.
The Reds co-owner is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and, according to the Daily Mirror, will meet Prince Faisal bin Fahd during a three-day stay.
Sources in the Middle East are convinced a deal will go through when Prince Faisal, who has been a guest of Gillett’s at Anfield, and his advisers sit down with the American.
Prince Faisal’s investment company, F6 Sports, has allies in the banking world and they would look at Liverpool as a club to make their name – and with potential for development down the line.
No figures have been released on what 70-year-old Gillett, who shares the Liverpool ownership with fellow American Tom Hicks, is looking to get for his share. (Daily Mail)

This is great news, it really is. The stain George Gillett, and to an equal extent Tom Hicks, have left on the club is a disgrace. The way the pair have acted has been nothing short of shocking and the fact that Gillett is off to Saudi Arabia to dot the I’s on a deal that sees his share of the club transfered to Prince Faisal bin Fahd is hopefully the start of a shift in ownership.

Of course we shouldn’t be blind to what our potential new owners have to offer but really there isn’t much of a chance that these guys could be possibly worse that the Yanks. Hopefully this sealing of a significant share of ownership being shifted will slowly but surely spell the end of Messrs Hicks and Gillett.

YNWA

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A Saudi Arabian prince is looking to buy up to half of Premier League football club Liverpool, reports say.

Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Saud was quoted by the Saudi Al-Riyadh newspaper on Sunday as saying “we are seeking… to own a 50% stake”.
The reported price of £200m to £350m for the 50% stake would be in excess of the £174m US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett paid for the whole club.
Liverpool recently signed a sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered bank.
That deal, which begins next July and runs to the end of the 2013-14 season, should lead to an increase in the club’s commercial revenues.
Debt burden

Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett have been looking to reduce Liverpool’s £245m debt and paid off £60m in July.

That was when the loan used taken out to buy the club in February 2007 ran out and was renegotiated with banks RBS and Wachovia.

“We are currently seeking to buy 50% of the shares in the club which is now suffering with debts worth £245m,” the prince was quoted in Al-Riyadh paper.

The Saudi interest comes after a document was leaked showing that since March 2009 the club has been seeking to attract new investors in return for a stake in the Anfield club.
In March 2009 a prospectus drawn up by investment banks Rothschild and Merrill Lynch told potential investors that for £50m they could get a minority stake in “one of the world’s most successful football clubs”.

Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Saud, who was at Anfield on Saturday for the 6-1 win over Hull, now appears to be seeking to invest much more than £50m.

He is chairman of Saudi holding company FAMA Group and the F6 sports investment firm, which said at the weekend that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with George Gillett and Richard Petty Motorsports.

That envisions setting up sports academies in Saudi Arabia, and could also see the Liverpool brand, and that of US motorsport Nascar, promoted heavily in the Middle East. (BBC Sport)

Fingers crossed indeed. The fact that our esteemed leaders deemed it necessary to look for new investors says it all. Either due to their financial incompetence or their desire to run the club dry whilst making any profit they can on the side or simply because they realise just how despised they are by a large section of the Liverpool fans, they are trying to extricate themselves from a very sticky situation.

The fact that Tom Hicks is planning on doing business with a man who seeks to get a 50% stake in the club suggests to me that he for one, and perhaps Gillett also, feel that making such a deal is a very real possibility and that will come as great news for most of the clubs fans, me included.

So Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud could well in time be our new owner and one who can surely not do a more lousy job than Messrs Hicks and Gillett and that for me is enough to offer him my wholehearted support.

YNWA

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