Club likely to foot annual £21.5m interest payments
Moores family loaned £10m for new signings
David Conn
Wednesday March 14, 2007
The Guardian
Thomas O Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the two American businessmen who are close to completing their takeover of Liverpool, have borrowed almost £300m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to finance the deal. The bank has loaned the money at 1.5% above the current standard lending rate, meaning that about £21.5m interest will be payable this year.
The debt is not being taken on by the club in the way the Glazer family loaded Manchester United with £660m borrowings from their 2005 takeover, but professionals close to the deal said it was nevertheless likely that Liverpool would pay the interest, or pay Hicks and Gillett "a big dividend" at the end of the year to enable them to do so.
The terms of the loans are in the offer document sent to all shareholders, revealing that the two men are borrowing £185m to pay for the £174m takeover itself and associated costs, with another £113m available as a "revolving credit facility" to absorb Liverpool's debts and fund the club and preliminary work on the new 60,000-seat stadium. A further £200m will be borrowed to build the stadium but the way that will be done has not been worked out. The initial £298m loans are guaranteed by Hicks and Gillett personally.
The offer document also reveals how stretched Liverpool became financially last year as the chief executive, Rick Parry, searched for someone to take over the club. In August the then chairman David Moores lent the club £10m - £2m personally and £8m from a family trust - to let the manager, Rafael Benítez, have some money to strengthen the squad, which he spent on buying the striker Dirk Kuyt.
Parry said that with a takeover likely the club had not wanted to take on more bank finance. "We were at the limit in terms of our short-term borrowing facilities and were racking up expenditure keeping the stadium on schedule, so it was a fantastic gesture by David to make that money available." Along with the money Hicks and Gillett are paying for his shares, Moores will have his loans repaid in full.
The takeover is certain to go through after it was confirmed last week that over 80% of Liverpool shareholders had accepted the offer of £5,000 a share. Moores, the former 51.5% shareholder, will be paid £89.615m for the 17,923 shares he bought for about £12m.
Robert Tilliss, the New York-based financial adviser to Hicks and Gillett, said the men had been attracted by buying "one of the leading brands in the world's No1 sport". He said they would bring their sports business expertise over from the US, where $20bn (£10.3bn) has been spent in recent years upgrading stadiums whose ticket prices make those in the Premiership seem like a snip. Tilliss said the popularity of English football in Asia had also been a factor. "All clubs in the US continue to drive on international, national and local revenues, and the great brands of English football certainly have room to develop."
Hicks and Gillett, who have said they intend to be "custodians" and hold Liverpool as a family asset, will own the club via a company structure based in the tax havens of the Cayman Islands and the US state of Delaware. The ultimate holding company, Kop Investment LLC, is registered in Delaware, which has low corporation tax and no capital gains tax, and its principal office is at Hicks's corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas. One professional involved with the deal said that this did not mean the two men foresaw a sale or flotation and were "sheltering" those future gains from tax, but that it was simply "a tax efficient" way to structure the deal.
Raging that Gillett & Hicks didn't just rock up with £500m in wheelbarrow outside Anfield...raging.
Credit to Moores on financing the Kuyt deal even though he knew he was close to giving up control of the club. Some of the jibes on here accusing him of trying to make a quick buck were miles off the mark.
Raging that Gillett & Hicks didn't just rock up with £500m in wheelbarrow outside Anfield...raging.
Credit to Moores on financing the Kuyt deal even though he knew he was close to giving up control of the club. Some of the jibes on here accusing him of trying to make a quick buck were miles off the mark.
he made a mistake not selling to the shiek rattle and rolls though all over a couple of squid theyd have you believe.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by liam2me
read the whole thread then come back to me and tell me who's the 'daw' (WTF is a daw anyway?) actually don't bother.
Liverpool's new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have suspended work on their proposed new stadium and ordered a review of the plans.
BBC Sport understands the pair want to examine ways of increasing the 60,000 capacity of the arena in Stanley Park.
Liverpool have targeted 2009 as an opening date for the stadium, but if major changes are made, there would need to be a new planning application.
This could result in a delay, although the original date may yet be met.
Liverpool have yet to confirm the decision to suspend preparatory work on the £215m project, but have revealed a review will be undertaken.
A Liverpool spokesman said: "There is a total commitment to a new stadium but the new owners are conducting a thorough review of the current proposals, to see if there is any way they can be improved."
BBC Sport believes the club's hierarchy regards the move to commission a review of the plans as a sign of the huge ambition of Gillett and Hicks rather than any move to back away from the original scheme.
Gillett and Hicks are fully behind the project as part of their takeover plan, and it is understood the review will take ''weeks rather than months'', allowing work on any alterations to the original design to get under way as soon as possible.
An increased capacity will be one of the plans under discussion during the review, but this is not a guarantee that this will happen.
Work on the new ground needs to start in the spring because public money has been allocated to the regeneration element of the plan, and it has to be spent by the end of 2008.
Gillett said in early February: "The shovel needs to be in the ground in the next 60 days.
"We are fully supportive of the Stanley Park development and of building a facility that we hope will be the greatest facility in this sport.
"We do work hard on design and development and making sure the quality of the fan experience is unparalleled.
"We want to make sure the newest technology is incorporated in it. It is about the comfort of fans."
And Hicks added: "We have our own people lined up to see if, within the confines of the plans, there are any other ideas that would be good for the fans."
he made a mistake not selling to the shiek rattle and rolls though all over a couple of squid theyd have you believe.
Only time will prove whether it was a mistake or not but on the face of it the deal with the yanks looks to be every bit as good if not better than the dirka dirka deal. Hard to know without knowing the low-level detail of each offer.
I heard this stadium re-think rumoured earlier on in the week, wasn't sure if it had any substance but it seems it was spot on. Would be interested to see just what improvements the yanks recommend based on their experience of previous ventures.
voronin scored for leverkusen last night, not a great finish tbh, he kinda miss hit it and it bounced a few times on the way into the corner of the net. he also conspired to put a free header onto the bar when it looked easier to score
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Roman Abramovich- Messi is getting world class put next to his name.The guy is a talented park.If he becomes world player of the year ill eat my jocks.
it really is a ged type of buy, even if hes free, why fuckin bother? there is no value at all i think. might as well just keep fowler around the place entertaining the lads instead
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