** Investment News - finally the LFC TAKEOVER! (Part 1) **

No negative posts from me.

Really pleased with today's news.  They seem like winners - just like us.

It's going to be great.  No more shovelling for the likes of Lucas Neill sh*te that's for sure.

Happy days - will post more tomorrow when I have 'digested' the information.

I am excited yet optimistic bout the whole thing. this club will be run better than Chelsea and man USA. OK i don't know if we will still be able to compeat with Chelsea in the transfer market. but who want a player for e.g 30mill wen you can get 3 good youngsters for the same prise? thats were Chelsea made there mistakes and we wont. hopefully.

I am really optimistic about all of this! Even more so after reading those interviews! Lets hope the futures a lot rosier than we originally thought

Although you can never compare it is looking like David Moores was right to turn DIC investment down.

They sold on the Tussauds group today after purchasing it two years ago.  Where they ever in for the long haul? Doubtful.  It looks like the rumours that they intended to sell off in 3 years were very accurate from the city.

They bought it for £800 million and sold it for just over a billion today.  Nice work....

Its better to sell to private owners like Hicks and Gillette the best LFC can get. DIC are tight fisted b@stards all that Sheik Mohamed is interested about is his horse racing he does not like football so why would he want to invest millions into it?

Football is a tough sport and a tough buisness, you don't make many profits on this game, ask the westham owner

One of the DIC claimed to be a Liverpool fan 'cos get this...

He had a Liverpool screensaver on his phone!!!  
But wait...

What if he was SERIOUS?!

I think someone should tell Mr Gillete and Mr Hicks quick, no-one checked their cell phones now did they?

DOH! That's it! We're doomed! All because we didn't check the bloody screensavers... how foolish! 

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.


Hope this is just a rumor http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2033194,00.html

Does this mean, Liverpool has a lot of money on interst payments to pay back before we can send on players each year.
maybe someone can put me in the picture 

spend I mean.

To be honest, think we were all pretty much aware of this..

I don't think it will significantly impact on player purchases.  Liverpool currently operate at a £30 million debt.  Do you not think the club already take loans out?

I think the most important piece in the article was that the loans are purchased with Gillett and Hicks as the security - their personal wealth.

Glazer used Old Trafford and the club as the collateral for his loans.

It's pretty much the way the business world works. 

Well if Hick & Gillette want a bigger stadium then i think the future is brighter rather than dimmer, remember Moores wanted a cheap as possible new stadium because he was on a budget but these people arnt they are proper sports buisness men they know all the tricks of the trade

Heard this today on the radio and thought I'd share with our non local members.

Seems Steve Morgan is still gutted that he couldn't have bought us. But he sounds happy with Gillett and Hicks.

Taken from Radio City:

Morgan backs new LFC owners

Steve Morgan, the man who came close to a takeover at Liverpool Football Club, has revealed his heartache at selling his shares in the club.

Speaking exclusively to Radio City, the Merseyside based businessman believes new American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have made a good start to life at Anfield.
One of the rules of the takeover means Morgan was forced to sell his stake which he held since 1974.
He said: “I must confess I felt a bit low the day I parted with my shares. I’d held them very proudly for many, many years and I would rather have kept them.”
Morgan made a multimillion pound bid to buy LFC in 2004 but the paperwork was never completed.
The Garston born man won’t reveal the exact details of why the deal fell through but insists he came “very, very close” to buying the club he loves.
Morgan thinks Gillett and Hicks have the potential to succeed at Anfield: “I think the club being 100% owned is probably a good thing and I think they will be good custodians,” he added.

“They’ve done a good job with the stadium and they will hopefully take the club onto bigger and better things.”
“I think the fans were always in favour of a local person taking over the club, whether it was me or somebody else. I think there’s no major opposition to the Hicks and Gillett bid so good luck to them.”

With the clubs second Champions League Final in three years just days away; Morgan is looking forward to the Greece showpiece.
Reflecting on the remarkable comeback against AC Milan in Istanbul he is confident the Reds can do it again against the Italians.
But he admits without the fans at half time in 2005 Liverpool would never have won their 5th European crown.

He recalls: “I was sat next to Ian Rush and at half time we hoped it wouldn’t get any worse. But the turning point for me was the best rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone ever and you could see the Italians looking around wondering what the hell was going on.”

Good little read there,

Always liked morgan but didnt ever think he every had enough to truly make us into a dominant force......

Well well well, wonder if DIC are going to launch another bid for the club. Would be good me thinks!

I agree with everything you have said there. The bottom line is this:

DO YOU TRUST THIS MAN



And remember never judge a book by its cover.
At the end of the day we need someone to take over, and its up to the board to make the right choice. I still think DIC is the way to go though no matter what Gillets statements are.

If only we had listened.

Pragmatic has more sense than Rick Parry himself! Everyone has more sense than that guy!