Americans will not stand in the way of new Liverpool owners they promise

August 4 – Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have promised not to stand in the way of a new buyer, it has been claimed.

The unpopular Americans have given Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton assurances that they will not block his recommendation for new owner.

The Americans will accede to the wishes of Broughton as long as he has the joint backing of the remaining two board members, managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre, the Daily Post in Liverpool reported.

A source familiar with the situation said Broughton enjoys the “confidence” of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Liverpool’s chief creditors.

Six bidders are being currently analysed by Broughton and his teamto see which offers the best long-term deal for the Premier League club.

One of those is Chinese businessman Kenny Huang, who is offering around £325 million ($518 million) – far short of the £600 million ($957 million) the Americans would like to sell for.

The club has a total debt of around £350 million ($558 million), with £237 million ($378 million) of that owed to RBS.
Any successful offer from Huang is likely to have to involve paying off the total debts.

Huang’s company, QSL Sports Limited, already has the “exclusive contract to promote, reform and manage [the] NBA in collaboration with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)”.

Brought has claimed that he will not rush a deal because it is not simply a matter of accepting the highest bid, but rather assessing who is involved in the different consortiums, where the money is coming from, how much is being borrowed, and how much cash will be available for players and the crucial new stadium.