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Liverpool owners fail to block sale

14 October 2010 02:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A British High Court judge ruled against the American owners of Liverpool Football Club Wednesday in their bid to stop the team’s sale to a U.S. group, APA reports quoting CNN.
The judge said Tom Hicks and George Gillett have no right to veto the sale and refused their right to appeal.
The owners had gone to court Tuesday to fight the team’s acquisition by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), the owners of baseball’s Boston Red Sox, and now they have lost the deal could be ratified at a club board meeting on Wednesday.
The board approved the deal last week without the consent of Hicks and Gillett as a way to rescue the club from its financial problems. However, the pair said through their lawyers that superior offers had been on the table and were not chosen.
They have said they feel the offer by NESV does not match their valuation of the club. Liverpool’s board -- headed by chairman Martin Broughton, whom Hicks and Gillett hired to find a buyer -- had agreed to accept an offer of 300 million pounds ($477 million) from NESV.
While the deal would pay off the bank’s debts to the Royal Bank of Scotland, it would also mean that Hicks and Gillett would lose $130 million on the deal. The $377 million loan from RBS is due to be repaid by Friday.
"We’re obviously disappointed by the judge’s decision on these applications," Keith Oliver, a solicitor for American owners, told CNN. "Mr.Hicks and Mr. Gillett will immediately be considering their next steps."
Broughton told CNN he was "absolutely delighted" by the verdict. "We came here to get justice, and that’s what we got," he said.
NESV welcomed the ruling, calling it "a huge step forward for Liverpool." The sports conglomerate said it had a "binding agreement in place with the board of Liverpool FC and we are looking forward to concluding the deal."
Praise also came from RBS, which was the plaintiff in the suit. "Today’s judgment vindicates the actions RBS has taken to ensure that decisions concerning the future of Liverpool Football Club are made by a properly constituted board acting in the club’s best interests," the bank said in a statement.
"RBS has every confidence that having been put on a proper footing, the board will now reach appropriate decisions regarding the next steps."
A board meeting was scheduled for Wednesday night to discuss the NESV bid, which Broughton said was not yet a sure thing. Asked whether NESV’s offer will be approved, Broughton replied, "There’s a board meeting this evening (Wednesday), hopefully to determine whether or not that is the case."
Depending on how discussions go between Liverpool and NESV, the judge said the American group’s bid may require a "declaratory judgment," which could mean another hearing to be held Oct. 21.
We are delighted with the result. We came here to get justice, and that’s what we got.

He said it was not for him to get involved in discussions about whether alternative bids should go through. If Hicks and Gillett had won the court case, it could have seen outside administrators put in control of the five-time European champions, which would be the British equivalent of bankruptcy.
The team would have also received a nine-point penalty from the Premier League, which would have put them rock bottom of the table on minus-three points ahead of a game against city rivals Everton Sunday. The club is currently 18th after seven games, the team’s worst start to a season in decades.
NESV has promised that if its offer is successful, it will keep all acquisition debts away from Liverpool’s football operations and stabilize the club in order to return it to its glory days. The club has earned a joint record of 18 English titles -- but none since 1990.
Tuesday, as the case went to court, a Singaporean businessman made a new offer for the team, entirely in cash. Peter Lim said his proposal represents a total investment of 360 million pounds ($570.8 million), including 40 million pounds ($63.4 million) for the purchase of new players.
In a statement after the verdict Wednesday, Lim said he welcomed the judge’s decision and that the way is now clear for Liverpool to be sold. "(I) believe that my ownership represents the best option for the future of the club and its supporters," Lim said.
"I hope that when the board is reconstituted tonight that it will not simply ratify a sale to NESV, but will consider all the offers before them. I am asking the board to run a full and fair process that enables all of the offers to be considered on their merits before the future of the club is decided."