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Saturday, January 27, 2007
Dubai Expects Liverpool Bid to Win, al-Ansari Says (Update1)
Dubai International Capital LLC, which has been in talks with Liverpool Football Club for almost two months, still expects to buy the soccer team even after Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett made an approach, said Sameer al-Ansari, Dubai International's executive chairman.
``I understand he offered 5,000 pounds a share while we offered 4,500 pounds a share,'' al-Ansari said in an interview yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``We are very confident the club will not consider the other offer.''
After weeks of speculation, Liverpool yesterday told the London Stock Exchange it received an approach from Gillett that ``may or may not lead to an offer.'' An acquisition would cost Dubai about 150 million pounds ($294 million) plus as much as 300 million pounds to finance a new stadium, according to al- Ansari. Chairman David Moores owns more than 51 percent of the team.
Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum and U.S. billionaire Gillett are vying for control of a team that won the last of its record 18 English league titles in 1990. Liverpool, which would become the seventh of 20 English Premiership clubs to be owned a foreign investor, has been seeking a buyer for three years to try to compete better on and off the field with Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and Malcolm Glazer's Manchester United.
Gillett had no comment, his spokesman Donald Beauchamp said.
Motives
Bruno Delorme, a sports management professor at Concordia University in Montreal, said Gillett's motives for wanting to take over Liverpool aren't clear.
``It's hard to know why he would bid for Liverpool, other than the fact he has a long history of being involved with sports teams,'' Delorme said in a phone interview.
Gillett is chairman of Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., a closely held company based in Vail, Colorado, that owns six ski resorts in California, New Hampshire and Washington. He bought the National Hockey League's Canadiens in 2001 and used to own the Harlem Globetrotters.
Glazer in 2005 bought Manchester United and fellow U.S. billionaire Randy Lerner in August took over Aston Villa. Chelsea was bought by Russia's Abramovich in 2003.
Dubai expects a decision on its Liverpool bid ``in a few weeks,'' al-Ansari said. It would initially buy the chairman's controlling stake and then seek to buy the remaining shares within four to six weeks, he said.
West Ham
The most recent Premiership team to be bought by someone from outside the U.K. was London's West Ham, which in November agreed to an 85 million-pound offer by Iceland's Eggert Magnusson. At the time of the purchase, he acknowledged that the increase in the value of television accords was one of the factors behind his decision.
The Premiership, already the world's richest soccer league, this month completed agreements worth 2.7 billion pounds -- covering live domestic telecasts, overseas broadcasts and Internet rights -- that will lift the champion team's revenue from TV and prize money to 50 million pounds next season from 30.4 million pounds currently.
On the field, Liverpool is the only English team to have won Europe's elite Champions League twice -- most recently in 2005 -- and only Spain's Real Madrid and Italy's A.C. Milan have a better record.
United's Revenue
Even so, Liverpool's annual revenue of 122 million pounds trails that of Manchester United, winner of eight league titles in 14 years, and Chelsea, English champion the past two seasons.
The club plans to lift revenue by moving to a new 60,000- capacity stadium less than a half-mile from the 45,000-seat Anfield. United's match-day sales are more than double Liverpool's.
``We understand what the club needs,'' said al-Ansari, a self-professed Liverpool fan. ``We're keen to build the new stadium.''
The 115-year-old team has previously turned down investment offers from a group of Thai businessmen, 5 percent shareholder Steve Morgan, Hollywood movie producer Mike Jefferies and Juan Villalonga, the former chairman of Spanish phone company Telefonica SA.
Dubai International Capital LLC, which has been in talks with Liverpool Football Club for almost two months, still expects to buy the soccer team even after Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett made an approach, said Sameer al-Ansari, Dubai International's executive chairman.
``I understand he offered 5,000 pounds a share while we offered 4,500 pounds a share,'' al-Ansari said in an interview yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``We are very confident the club will not consider the other offer.''
After weeks of speculation, Liverpool yesterday told the London Stock Exchange it received an approach from Gillett that ``may or may not lead to an offer.'' An acquisition would cost Dubai about 150 million pounds ($294 million) plus as much as 300 million pounds to finance a new stadium, according to al- Ansari. Chairman David Moores owns more than 51 percent of the team.
Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum and U.S. billionaire Gillett are vying for control of a team that won the last of its record 18 English league titles in 1990. Liverpool, which would become the seventh of 20 English Premiership clubs to be owned a foreign investor, has been seeking a buyer for three years to try to compete better on and off the field with Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and Malcolm Glazer's Manchester United.
Gillett had no comment, his spokesman Donald Beauchamp said.
Motives
Bruno Delorme, a sports management professor at Concordia University in Montreal, said Gillett's motives for wanting to take over Liverpool aren't clear.
``It's hard to know why he would bid for Liverpool, other than the fact he has a long history of being involved with sports teams,'' Delorme said in a phone interview.
Gillett is chairman of Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., a closely held company based in Vail, Colorado, that owns six ski resorts in California, New Hampshire and Washington. He bought the National Hockey League's Canadiens in 2001 and used to own the Harlem Globetrotters.
Glazer in 2005 bought Manchester United and fellow U.S. billionaire Randy Lerner in August took over Aston Villa. Chelsea was bought by Russia's Abramovich in 2003.
Dubai expects a decision on its Liverpool bid ``in a few weeks,'' al-Ansari said. It would initially buy the chairman's controlling stake and then seek to buy the remaining shares within four to six weeks, he said.
West Ham
The most recent Premiership team to be bought by someone from outside the U.K. was London's West Ham, which in November agreed to an 85 million-pound offer by Iceland's Eggert Magnusson. At the time of the purchase, he acknowledged that the increase in the value of television accords was one of the factors behind his decision.
The Premiership, already the world's richest soccer league, this month completed agreements worth 2.7 billion pounds -- covering live domestic telecasts, overseas broadcasts and Internet rights -- that will lift the champion team's revenue from TV and prize money to 50 million pounds next season from 30.4 million pounds currently.
On the field, Liverpool is the only English team to have won Europe's elite Champions League twice -- most recently in 2005 -- and only Spain's Real Madrid and Italy's A.C. Milan have a better record.
United's Revenue
Even so, Liverpool's annual revenue of 122 million pounds trails that of Manchester United, winner of eight league titles in 14 years, and Chelsea, English champion the past two seasons.
The club plans to lift revenue by moving to a new 60,000- capacity stadium less than a half-mile from the 45,000-seat Anfield. United's match-day sales are more than double Liverpool's.
``We understand what the club needs,'' said al-Ansari, a self-professed Liverpool fan. ``We're keen to build the new stadium.''
The 115-year-old team has previously turned down investment offers from a group of Thai businessmen, 5 percent shareholder Steve Morgan, Hollywood movie producer Mike Jefferies and Juan Villalonga, the former chairman of Spanish phone company Telefonica SA.
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Dubai International Capital LLC scrapped a 150 million-pound ($294 million) offer for Liverpool FC after English soccer's most successful team wanted more time to consider a higher offer by U.S. billionaire George Gillett.
The withdrawal, following two months of talks, comes a day after the Liverpool board failed to approve Dubai's bid of 45 pounds a share. The state-owned investment firm was also prepared to finance a new 300 million-pound stadium. Gillett, owner of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens, is offering about 50 pounds a share, according to Dubai's Sameer Al Ansari.
``We were prepared to offer shareholders a significant premium on the market price,'' Al Ansari, DIC's executive chairman and chief executive officer, said in an e-mailed statement today. ``However we will not overpay for assets.''
Liverpool, which last won the English championship in 1990, has been seeking investors for the past three years to compete better on and off the field with Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and Manchester United, acquired by Malcolm Glazer in 2005. Liverpool would become the seventh of 20 English Premiership clubs to be owned by a foreign investor.
Liverpool declined to comment on Dubai's statement today. Gillett has no plans to comment, his spokesman Donald Beauchamp said.
``Liverpool's investment requirements have been well publicized,'' Al Ansari said. ``After a huge amount of work, we proposed a deal that would provide the club with the funds it needs, both on and off the pitch.''
Skiing, Basketball
Gillett has several years' experience running sports businesses. He's chairman of Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., which owns ski resorts in California, New Hampshire and Washington, bought the Canadiens in 2001 and used to own basketball's Harlem Globetrotters and the National Football League's Miami Dolphins.
Bruno Delorme, a sports management professor at Concordia University in Montreal, said last week that Gillett's motives for wanting to take over Liverpool weren't clear.
Since he bought the Canadiens, ``he has kept a very low profile,'' Delorme said in a phone interview. ``He spends a fair bit of time in Colorado.''
``Liverpool deserves to be in the hands of people who support it, who understand its history and legend and who share the enthusiasm and passion of its fans,'' said Al Ansari, who is a self-professed Liverpool fan. ``As businessmen, we move on. As fans, we hope that the new owners would share the same vision as we had.''
European Cups
U.S. billionaire Randy Lerner took over Aston Villa in August. Chelsea was bought in 2003 and has won two straight league titles after Russia's Abramovich spent a record 375 million pounds recruiting players.
Liverpool is the only English team to have won the European Cup more than twice, most recently in 2005. Only Spain's Real Madrid and Italy's A.C. Milan have a better record than Liverpool's five.
Even so, Liverpool's annual sales of 122 million pounds trail those of Manchester United, winner of eight league titles in 14 years, and Chelsea. Liverpool's proposed move from its 45,000-capacity Anfield home is an attempt to close the gap.
The new arena is ``so badly needed to ensure the club can continue to compete at the highest level in the Premiership and Europe,'' said Al Ansari. According to the Liverpool Echo newspaper today, work needs to start on the 60,000-seat capacity venue in March.
Television Money
The Premiership, already the world's richest soccer league, this month completed agreements worth 2.7 billion pounds -- covering live domestic telecasts, overseas broadcasts and Internet rights -- that will lift the champion team's revenue from TV and prize money to 50 million pounds next season from 30.4 million pounds currently.
The most recent Premiership team to be bought by someone from outside the U.K. was London's West Ham, which in November agreed to an 85 million-pound offer by Iceland's Eggert Magnusson. At the time of the purchase, he acknowledged that the increase in the value of television accords was one of the factors behind his decision.
Liverpool has previously turned down offers from a group of Thai businessmen, 5 percent shareholder Steve Morgan, Hollywood movie producer Mike Jefferies and Juan Villalonga, the former chairman of Spanish phone company Telefonica SA.