One of the leading bidders for Liverpool Football Club, Kenny Huang, has threatened to walk away if a deal is not concluded soon. However, this may simply be a negotiating tactic to hurry things along. Even if a credible bidder could be successfully identified, due diligence could take another two months.
One of the leading bidders for Liverpool Football Club, Kenny Huang, has threatened to walk away if a deal is not concluded soon. However, this may simply be a negotiating tactic to hurry things along. Even if a credible bidder could be successfully identified, due diligence could take another two months.
Huang has grown frustrated by what he sees as delaying tactics by Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton. Huang thinks his offer is the only viable one on the table, but given his role, Broughton has no personal interest in delay. He does have a professional interest in ensuring the club is sold to someone who has the financial backing they claim to have.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) sources have indicated that Huang was there or thereabouts in terms of proof of funding to Barclays Capital, the investment bank advising on the deal. The Chinese offer would make the club debt-free and also provide large-scale investment as part of a total package of around £800m.
GameDay, the Montréal-based group behind Syrian businessman Yahya Kirdi is seen as the other most likely serious contender. Rhone Group, the New York-based private equity group, has not been able to come up with the required funds and in any case their original plan was just to take a stake in the club.
If anyone wants the matter sorted out sooner rather than later (apart from the fans) it is RBS, even though they are thought to be receiving £2.5m a week in penalty fees from the current owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. They could seize control of the club without putting it into administration and incurring a points penalty while booting off Hicks and Gillett off the board and this remains a possible way forward.
But it is clear that for all Kenny Huang’s impatience, a deal will not happen before the expiry of the transfer window. It’s more important to get it right for the future of the club than to settle it in a hurry.