US owners' £1.2m claims from Liverpool FC accountsJun 9 2008 By David Prentice
LIVERPOOL’S American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have incurred £1.2m in personal claims in their first seven months of ownership at Anfield.
The Kop Holdings Ltd figures, which also show a £33m loss on the year ending July 31, 2007, include transaction, travel and personal claims.
The accounts, the first set released by Kop Holdings, show that from December 2006 to July 31 2007, £823,000 was incurred by George Gillett for “transaction related expenses” – understood to be claims built up during the acquisition of the club – and a further £375,000 for “reimbursable travel, legal, personnel and other expenses.”
As at July 31, 2007 £100,000 of these amounts were listed as unpaid.
During the same period the company incurred £133,000 for transaction related expenses on Tom Hicks’s behalf and £198,000 for reimbursable travel, legal and other expenses.
£244,000 of these amounts were listed as unpaid at July 31, 2007.
The accounts also show that during the January refinancing of the club, an inter-company loan of £64m was made, seemingly to service the interest repayments incurred.
The ownership of the club is a complicated structure split into five elements – with Kop Investment LLC being the parent company supporting four subsidiaries, ending with Liverpool Football Club.
Kop Holdings, the company two levels above LFC, lent the club £64m over three years for the apparent purpose of servicing the interest repayments of the refinance, believed to be around £30m each year.
The outlook for the financial future at Anfield is not likely to improve, piling even more pressure on Hicks and Gillett.
The club’s £350m loans may also have to be refinanced as early as January, meaning another intensive search for backers by Hicks and Gillett may need to begin again almost as soon as the season kicks off.
With no sign of the worldwide credit crunch easing, this could be a difficult quest for the club.
The accounts also reveal that the owners wrote off £10.3m when they scrapped the club’s design for a new stadium after their takeover in February 200, and the likelihood of work beginning any time soon on the new stadium is remote.
Hicks and Gillett remain at loggerheads with each other, further complicating the picture and leaving Anfield’s financial future clouded with uncertainty.
Blood sucking b***ard
