Chinese State Owned Company Everbright

£300 million they paid and people didn't believe they saw us as a major money maker with very little risk. They don't like football they don't like the City the only thing they like is money and every penny they take away is money out of the club money that could have made us among the elite in Europe just as we used to be shortly before they arrived yes WE WERE NUMBER ONE RANKED IN EUROPE and in their 6 years we have gone from 5th to 28th just incase people hadn't noticed.

Nail in the head, but true.

£300 million they paid and people didn't believe they saw us as a major money maker with very little risk. They don't like football they don't like the City the only thing they like is money and every penny they take away is money out of the club money that could have made us among the elite in Europe just as we used to be shortly before they arrived yes WE WERE NUMBER ONE RANKED IN EUROPE and in their 6 years we have gone from 5th to 28th just incase people hadn't noticed.

Unfortunately all true. And while we've had some near moments, they promised to return us to the summit. So far, 6 years later we're still wondering when it's going to happen.

I dont think that the Chinese will want 10% or 20% or even 49% - they will want 100% and they will no doubt get what they want... A shiny new Premier league football club, be it Liverpool or someone else.

This would have come to light because the purchasers want people to know (our fan base) that they are interested and that will put pressure on NESV to sell. I think that Amanda Staveley knows this and that she knows the fans are disgruntled and a little fed up with JWH and co.

I believe that they will sell if they get the £1.25 billion they want - from their point of view they will leave as the saviors and we know how Americans love that title. They will also make a fat stack on the back of this (a billion £ is more like $1.3 Billion!) that will no doubt keep them very happy and they can invest in other ventures.

I dont think that the Chinese will want 10% or 20% or even 49% - they will want 100% and they will no doubt get what they want... A shiny new Premier league football club, be it Liverpool or someone else.

This would have come to light because the purchasers want people to know (our fan base) that they are interested and that will put pressure on NESV to sell. I think that Amanda Staveley knows this and that she knows the fans are disgruntled and a little fed up with JWH and co.

I believe that they will sell if they get the £1.25 billion they want - from their point of view they will leave as the saviors and we know how Americans love that title. They will also make a fat stack on the back of this (a billion £ is more like $1.3 Billion!) that will no doubt keep them very happy and they can invest in other ventures.

Hmmm ... agreed with everything said mate, except they may not let go with a meagre 1.25 GBP offer, most probably 3 to 5. Just a wild guess. Money is never enough for them, they have no souls, money is their soul. But there're millions perhaps billions of restless souls out there, me included.

For FSG its a complete no brainer, you sell up to 49%, make all your initial investment back if not a healthy profit, get a sh*t load of cash to invest in top top players ensuring future success, open up the massive Chinese market, and still remain in control of the club. What on earth is there to think about, just sign on the dotted line!!

The thing is FSG forsee a situation down the line where they can get even more money. With an increase in TV money, the new stand functioning and more sponsors, it's very possible FSG will hold steady and wait until the valuation of the club goes up and up and up.

This isn't about what's best for Liverpool FC, it's to see how much the personnel at FSG can make out of the club. Such is the business of football these days.

Hmmm ... agreed with everything said mate, except they may not let go with a meagre 1.25 GBP offer, most probably 3 to 5. Just a wild guess. Money is never enough for them, they have no souls, money is their soul. But there're millions perhaps billions of restless souls out there, me included.

The club has been valued at 1.4 billion (not sure if it's sterling or dollars). Quite how the yanks will want 3-5 billion is beyond me...??

as long as they can get us a LB,CDM and LW i dont care.

Well if we F**k about there is club that finished higher than us in a brand new stadium in London that wont cost them as much and will be just as attractive to players if they are splashing the cash about.

If not Liverpool then they need to look no further than West Ham and we will have missed out again.

Imagine being able to match teams release clauses and not miss out on players for a couple of million eh wouldn't that be good.

Unfortunately all true. And while we've had some near moments, they promised to return us to the summit. So far, 6 years later we're still wondering when it's going to happen.

they don't even know which mountain to climb. We have gone from hatred of Hicks and Gillette to apathy for FSG and the usual comment of not as bad as the last bunch or better the devil you know. Surely we deserve or rather the History of the club deserves owners who actually care about the club and its history and if not at least fund it so it can compete with the top clubs.

If this offer is on the table, and if we don't take it, I fear there is a real danger of us becoming irrelevant as a football club, and that we won't be winning the league title again for many years; perhaps not in our lifetimes. I also think we will have nobody to blame but ourselves/FSG.

We messed up with DIC, let's not mess up a second time, because who is to say we will get a third chance? Most teams don't get the one chance. We can't rely on our heritage and appeal to our illustrious history forever. Ask Aston Villa with their 7 league titles, 7 FA cups, 5 League Cups and European Cup, or ask Notts Forest.

If this offer is on the table, and if we don't take it, I fear there is a real danger of us becoming irrelevant as a football club, and that we won't be winning the league title again for many years; perhaps not in our lifetimes. I also think we will have nobody to blame but ourselves/FSG.

We messed up with DIC, let's not mess up a second time, because who is to say we will get a third chance? Most teams don't get the one chance. We can't rely on our heritage and use our illustrious history forever. Ask Aston Villa with their 7 league titles, 7 FA cups, 5 League Cups and European Cups, or Notts Forest.

Sorry mate but we will never be irrelevant as a club.

No club is irrelevant to their own respected supporters, do you think we would stop supporting LFC if we saw a decline in our fortunes and fell a couple of divisions down?, I doubt it,in fact I think we would enjoy our football once more.

The Chinese can come on board  to give us  cash injection.But the problem Iam  having is  we  don't attract
top worldclass players.For the past three  seasons we  did  spend  lot  of money on new player's  but it  seems that there
is  little or no progress at all.

Sorry mate but we will never be irrelevant as a club.

No club is irrelevant to their own respected supporters, do you think we would stop supporting LFC if we saw a decline in our fortunes and fell a couple of divisions down?, I doubt it,in fact I think we would enjoy our football once more.

I agree that we won't ever view the club as irrelevant. I meant we'll become irrelevant in the eyes of any future possible takeovers. At least where the real big hitters are concerned.

If you're not on the biggest stage(s) competing for the biggest prizes with the biggest sharks, for the world to see what you're about, you're irrelevant. Out of sight out of mind and all that.

The Chinese can come on board  to give us  cash injection.But the problem Iam  having is  we  don't attract
top worldclass players.For the past three  seasons we  did  spend  lot  of money on new player's  but it  seems that there
is  little or no progress at all.

We can pay the club fees but we can't or won't pay the crazy player wages. At least that's what I think the reason for them not coming here is.

I agree that we won't ever view the club as irrelevant. I meant we'll become irrelevant in the eyes of any future possible takeovers. At least where the real big hitters are concerned.

If you're not on the biggest stage(s) competing for the biggest prizes with the biggest sharks, for the world to see what you're about, you're irrelevant. Out of sight out of mind and all that.

Where were City before Thaksin took over?.

Sorry mate but we will never be irrelevant as a club.

No club is irrelevant to their own respected supporters, do you think we would stop supporting LFC if we saw a decline in our fortunes and fell a couple of divisions down?, I doubt it,in fact I think we would enjoy our football once more.

Certainly wouldn't be irrelevant and football without PL pressures and ridiculous money would be enjoyable. But NOBODY would want to see that happen. Like Forest, or Leeds, there are no guarantees in coming back up.

Where were City before Thaksin took over?.

City were nowhere.

I'm not saying we won't attract buyers I'm saying we won't attract the bigger buyers, the big hitters. If we start consistently messing around with mid table mediocrity, or worse, then we are in danger of being looked over. City are the noisy neighbours of Utd and were obvious candidates for someone wanting to make a big impact in football. Can't say why Roman bought Chelsea though. Perhaps it was something as simple as Ken Bates knew him, I don't know.

I don't want to risk becoming also rans because we continually rebuffed chances of getting some serious financial support.

Listening to the Sunday Supplement Podcast it seems like these guys have a lot of money.

Original story from The Times yesterday.

Liverpool hit jackpot after £800m China bid

Liverpool are the target of an £800m takeover bid backed by the Chinese government that has the potential to make them the richest club in the Premier League.

China Everbright, a state-backed financial giant, is spearheading the attempt to buy the Anfield club from current owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) but the bulk of the money is expected to come from the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s main sovereign wealth fund, whose assets are put at about £620bn.

Should the bid succeed it would give Liverpool backers with a financial clout exceeding even that of Manchester City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, and open the possibility of transfer spending to match City and Manchester United. One well-placed source cautioned, however, that there is still plenty work to be done to finalise any deal.

Involved with the Chinese bid is Amanda Staveley, the leading City dealmaker who helped broker Sheikh Mansour’s £210m purchase of Manchester City in 2008.

It is understood talks with representatives for FSG and the Chinese group are ongoing and that under the current plan Liverpool would be taken over by a new ownership group of which Everbright, potentially Staveley herself, and John Henry, Liverpool’s current principal owner, would be part.

Henry may even retain a majority stake, with the Chinese becoming minority partners. With financial terms being thrashed out, talks could extend into September. It is far from the first time Liverpool have been targeted by Chinese investors.

In July, a flamboyant Chinese trader and art collector, Liu Yiqian, made an unsuccessful approach to FSG. Then, FSG’s stance was that they did not want to sell and that having tied Jürgen Klopp to a new six-year contract and revamped Anfield, increasing the stadium’s capacity to 54,000, they were merely at the start of unlocking Liverpool’s potential.

On Friday, Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman and second most important shareholder after Henry, said the club was “not for sale” though he admitted that FSG are open to the idea of selling a stake.

Having bought Liverpool for £300m in 2010, FSG have invested significantly in players yet found themselves unable to get near to matching the fees and wages being offered by the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and some of Europe’s giants — and, indeed, they lost out on a main transfer target to China when Jiangsu Suning gazumped them for the Brazilian Alex Teixeira in January.

While Manchester United broke the world transfer record for Paul Pogba this summer and Manchester City exceeded even United’s spending with a flurry of transfers worth about £152m, Klopp has been balancing his books.

Liverpool spent £30m on Sadio Mane and £23m on Georginio Wijnaldum but recouped most of the club’s total summer outlay through the transfers of Joe Allen, Jordon Ibe and Christian Benteke. Although Anfield’s expansion will net the club an extra £25m per season, it seems unlikely that would be enough to allow Klopp to be able to compete for players with his main Premier League rivals without his club receiving major fresh investment.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/liverpool-hit-jackpot-after-800m-china-bid-c3qh3zgg0

The thing is FSG forsee a situation down the line where they can get even more money. With an increase in TV money, the new stand functioning and more sponsors, it's very possible FSG will hold steady and wait until the valuation of the club goes up and up and up.

This isn't about what's best for Liverpool FC, it's to see how much the personnel at FSG can make out of the club. Such is the business of football these days.

Yes but that's a bloody dangerous gamble, because unless they start investing heavily the value of the club is only going to go in one direction, down. The wise thing would be to cash out 50% now and then let the extra money be used to increase the worth of the club further. If they are purely money focused and if they are smart, which you have to assume they are, then that is what they'll do.

I dont think that the Chinese will want 10% or 20% or even 49% - they will want 100% and they will no doubt get what they want... A shiny new Premier league football club, be it Liverpool or someone else.

Exactly why we need this deal to go through.
If they dont get us they will want someone else.

we'll be competing with city, united, arsenal, chelsea, spurs and a new unknown rich club with unlimited funds for the league.

All very reminiscent of the Dubai ''bid'' that never was.

Anything to get these guys out. I know they are 'stable' owners, but we will never get back to dominating or even competing consistently as we once did whilst they remain in control.  I'm not happy to settle for the occasional trophy or title challenge. We should be doing I every season and it's time we all remembered that.

We are Liverpool and it's a name that used to mean something, for us not to be competing at the very top isn't what we are about, but who can honestly say hand on heart that they believe under FSG we will ever do that?