while I agree with that, I'm seeing a whole lot of purity tests among LFC supporters online, and it's feeding off itself to the point where if a new owner got a speeding ticket 30 years ago some ppl would lose their shit.
there is no way in hell any Pension Fund would buy a football club. way too many uncontrollable variables. unless they drew hefty dividends out every year of course.
They are not your average pension Fund (in fact, I'm not even sure they are primarily one). The 2 or 3 Billion to get Liverpool as an asset they would hardly notice spending it....
from the Echo .... Here are the names who have been linked, and those who have tried to link themselves, with a takeover bid for Liverpool. QATAR & SAUDI ARABIAN PRIVATE SECTOR The latest to be linked to a Liverpool purchase are unnamed private sector firms from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the Daily Mail reporting over the weekend that talks had taken place. Those reports arrived hot on the heels of comments made to BBC Sport by Saudi sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal who, when quizzed around interest in Liverpool and Manchester United from the region said that there was a lot of "interest and appetite". "From the private sector, I can't speak on their behalf, but there is a lot of interest and appetite and there's a lot of passion about football," said Al Faisal. "It's the most-watched league in Saudi and the region and you have a lot of fans of the Premier League. We will definitely support it if any [Saudi] private sector comes in, because we know that's going to reflect positively on sports within the kingdom. "But if there's an investor willing to do so and the numbers add up, why not?" A price point of £3bn was highlighted in the Mail, the ECHO understanding that FSG had been seeking £500m more than that figure to open up any dialogue with would-be suitors. CBS Sports' Ben Jacobs, who spent several years as a journalist in the Middle East, claimed that interest was at the "thought process" stage and that nothing had progressed beyond that. HARRIS BLITZER SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT David Blitzer and Josh Harris who, through their Harris/Blitzer Sports and Entertainment (HBSE) business were in the race to acquire Chelsea earlier this year. The ECHO learned from US sources earlier this month that HBSE are 'mulling their options' over any potential move, although other sources close to the situation doubt whether any interest will manifest into a successful bid for the Reds. HBSE have a track record in sport through ownership of the Philadelphia 76ers, while Blitzer and Harris both own 18 per cent each of Crystal Palace. Any deal to move on Liverpool would require them to divest any interest that they have in Palace, although Blitzer, when speaking at the Sportico Invest in Sports conference in New York last month, where the ECHO were present, hinted at their approach if a major Premier League asset became available. "At the end of the day I love Crystal Palace, and people who know me well will know I love Crystal Palace," said the 53-year-old, an extremely well know figure in investment circles in the US. "But there are a handful of teams/brands out there on a global basis, and Chelsea is one of them. The opportunity to invest in that particular situation with a very small number of people, frankly, given it was a complicated situation, we were comfortable giving that our best shot. "We would have had to divest our interest in Crystal Palace had that come through. If that had happened it would have been a really sad day in one sense, but again back to the investment part it would have been a really interesting investment in terms of what's out there for Chelsea. Then I would have probably had to hide a little bit when I went to London." There are also strong links between HBSE and Liverpool. Harris and Blitzer's consortium that sought to acquire Chelsea this year had former British Airways chief Sir Martin Broughton, the man who held the early chairmanship at Liverpool under FSG and was a key player in their acquisition of the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Wall Street financier Michael Klein was also part of the HBSE/Broughton bid for Chelsea, Klein having been recommended by Broughton for that chairman's role and having been a major factor in facilitating the deal for FSG to take over the club. There are strong ties that exist within the group to the current ownership and the club itself. Blitzer, through his Global Football Holdings (GFH) investment vehicle, has ownership stakes across European football already aside from the investment in Palace. Earlier this month GFH took control of Danish Superliga side Brondby IF, while they also have stakes in Spanish side AD Alcorcon, German outfit FC Augsburg and Dutch second tier side ADO Den Haag. MUKESH AMBANI Indian billionaire Ambani had been involved with an attempt to purchase Liverpool back in 2009 and the Mirror reported earlier this month that the 65 year old was in talks with FSG top brass over a move to acquire the Reds. That claim was something rejected by representatives of Ambani's Reliance Industries firm, who were reported via the Indian media outlet ABP News to have branded the reports as 'fake'. Ambani, the world's eighth richest man with a fortune estimated to be in the region of £90bn, has not made a public comment on any potential move for Liverpool. The ECHO reached out to his representatives at Reliance but requests for comment went unanswered. SIR JIM RATCLIFFE As soon as it was revealed that FSG were open to selling the Reds the name of Ratcliffe was immediately linked. The 70-year-old, founder of the multi-billion pound chemicals business INEOS, was part of the bidding process for Chelsea when they hit the market earlier this year before the Todd Boehly-led consortium won through in a £2.5bn deal. Ratcliffe distanced himself from any Liverpool link, the Oldham-born Manchester United fan instead expressing his wish to place more emphasis on the job that INEOS had on their hands as owners of French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice. Ratcliffe, who is worth an estimated £11bn, has performed something of a U-turn, the Telegraph claiming that he will show his hand with a bid for Manchester United after the Glazer family placed the club up for sale, although with some reports of the unpopular owners wanting as much as £7bn for the club, Ratcliffe would have to dig deep to acquire his boyhood club. STEVE BALLMER US billionaire Ballmer, 66, already holds sports team ownership through his majority stake in the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team that he acquired back in 2014. His net worth is pegged at around £66.5bn, accrued largely through the stock options that he held in Microsoft, the company where he served as CEO between 2000 and 2014. An engaged owner, often found courtside at the Clippers, Ballmer has been a name linked from early on, although any Reds fans hoping that he will be the next owner of Liverpool may be disappointed. Ballmer, according to LA Times reporter Sam Farmer, has no interest in adding any more sports teams on top of the Clippers, something that Ballmer told Farmer earlier this year, citing a lack of time available to invest in growing his sporting portfolio any further. STEPHEN PAGLIUCA Another name that was in the running to takeover at Chelsea was that of Boston Celtics and Atalanta owner Stephen Pagliuca. Like Liverpool's current ownership group, Pagliuca has his roots in Massachusetts, the 67-year-old serving as co-chairman of the investment fund Bain Capital, a firm that manages over £150bn in assets globally. Pagliuca made the shortlist of buyers that were whittled down for Chelsea before losing out. He is understood to have retained an interest in a Premier League investment opportunity moving forward. Attempts by the ECHO to contact Pagliuca and Bain Capital have gone unanswered thus far. MUMTALAKAT HOLDINGS As soon as it emerged that FSG were open selling the Reds there was the expectation that money from the Middle East would look the way of Liverpool in the way that it did for Manchester City and Newcastle United. With Newcastle having also been taken over last year by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) there were swiftly links made with other sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf states. One early name to be linked was that of Mumtalakat Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain which has around £15bn of assets under management. According to CBS Sports, Mumtalakat Holdings have denied interest and stated that they have no intention of pursuing a deal for the club. DUBAI & UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Early on reports had surfaced in the Middle East around interest in the Reds from consortia in Dubai and the UAE. The sovereign wealth fund of the UAE, the Emirates Investment Authority, were linked, while Dubai International Capital, the international investment arm of Dubai Holdings, which serves as the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Dubai and its ruling family, were also placed as a name in the frame. Both linked wealth funds, per CBS Sports, were quick to deny any interest in a Reds takeover bid. REDBIRD CAPITAL PARTNERS When RedBird arrived as a minority partner in FSG back in March 2021, taking a 11 per cent stake in the company for a $750m sum, there was some suggestion that it may be the start of a longer play for them to acquire the Reds. Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of New York-based RedBird, which manages over $6bn in assets globally across the sports, finance and energy sectors, was pressed on any future interest in being owner of Liverpool when he appeared at the Financial Times' Business of Sports Football Summit in the US last year. Cardinale, who stressed at the time that the deal was never concluded with any intention to own Liverpool outright, said: "No, I definitely would not exclude it as it would be a privilege but I think that Liverpool is in fantastic hands with the current group. "We are there to support and play a supporting role where we can but that is a phenomenal team from ownership and management all the way down." But the landscape has changed considerably since then with RedBird, who already owned French side Toulouse, having taken a controlling interest in Italian giants AC Milan back in September, clinching a £1.1bn deal. There would be a clear conflict of interest where UEFA were concerned in owning two Champions League powerhouses, and the ECHO has been told that there is no interest on RedBird's part to throw their hat into the ring or divest any interest in Milan, where they see a long-term vision that involves the building of a new stadium. Speaking to Australian media earlier this month, Cardinale confirmed that stance.
Boston Globe .... I like this, a lot. hope to god it's accurate. https://archive.ph/Zbx69#selection-1545.0-1655.167 Fenway Sports Group leaning toward a partial sale of stakes in Liverpool Fenway Sports Group remains engaged in discussions with an array of suitors interested in either buying all or part of Liverpool Football Club, sources familiar with the discussions said on Wednesday. The latter scenario – a new investor or investors joining FSG in order to inject more capital for player acquisitions and capital improvements – that is, currently, the more likely outcome of the exploration. One of the potential partners is from North America, said the source, who politely declined to name the interested party. One outcome of a partial investment would be a minority partner eventually turning into a majority partner, but there is no indication that this is FSG’s preference or that it wants to relinquish full control. Potential new partners would need to be philosophically aligned with FSG’s fiscal tenets and team-building philosophies, said a source. FSG is keeping its ears open about a complete takeover, but has not yet received a compelling offer and is unsure if it will. Two weeks ago, FSG chairman Tom Werner said in New York at the MLB owners meetings that “there’s no urgency, no time frame for us, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s business as usual.” Sam Kennedy, Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management president and CEO, said at the same meetings that “it is early days in terms of exploring possibilities for possible investment into Liverpool.” FSG president Mike Gordon is overseeing talks about any possible transaction as he dials down his decade-long direct oversight of the club. Word that FSG retained bankers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to hold talks with interested investors was first reported by The Athletic on Nov. 7. Estimates on what a full-sale price tag would be have ranged from at least $3 billion to more than $4 billion. Adding both complexity and intrigue to Liverpool’s potential sale is that Manchester United put itself up for a full or partial sale last week. Manchester United is one of only a few European teams with a broader global fan-base than Liverpool and one of three soccer teams (along with Real Madrid and Barcelona) estimated by Forbes to have a greater value ($4.6 billion) than Liverpool ($4.45 billion). Whether or not, or how much, the timing of Manchester United’s sale announcement is related to news of Liverpool’s sale announcement may take some time to be revealed.
may have zero to do with the sale, but didn't know where to post it ..... Director of research Ian Graham is the latest member of Liverpool's backroom staff to leave the club and they fear he will now join Manchester United.
https://www.thisisanfield.com/2022/...ol-sale-plans-and-why-fsg-want-investors-now/ This just popped up on my Twitter feed.
Following Uefa and Fifa receiving significant backing in their battle to block the creation of a European Super League, confidence among potential Liverpool investors has increased and the club's takeover price has also risen.
Not a lot of recent news on the sale front. The little voice in my head is telling me we need some new ownership blood and quickly
seriously. I appreciate all the good that FSG has done - but they can't compete at the top. they are wasting our greatest modern manager since Dalglish part 1.
They are seriously messing with the Red Sox as well. Imagine allowing two superstar, homegrown talents to leave on frees, and signing a third to a one year deal knowing he's unlikely to sign for the long-term. It's like letting TAA and Gomez walk out the door and seeing Elliott prepare to do the same.
FSG splashing the cash ................in Boston anyway. FSG have sanctioned an 11-year deal for Red Sox star Rafael Devers worth a whopping $331m [£275.2m] to keep him in Boston for the best years of his career.