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Dubai International Capital (DIC)


Rashid
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From the Guardian.

 

"One week after the refinancing deal that seemed to have secured the Americans' Anfield tenure, Gillett has still to endorse his business partner's plans for the club or state, as Hicks has done, that his 50% stake in Liverpool is not for sale. Their ownership of the club will attract fresh protest from supporters at this evening's home game against Sunderland and the apparently fractured relationship has bolstered DIC's confidence that it can finally take control.

 

The investment arm of the Dubai government has spent the past week studying the £350m refinancing loan and it is believed a formal offer to Gillett and Hicks may be submitted in the next seven days. Hicks, however, will not even consider walking away without a substantial profit on the table."

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Whats to stop DIC buying Gilletts share leaving Hicks with only 50% and also he'd be outnumbered on the board assuming Parry and Moores and still anti him? If he has no support at board level he'd never get his way and would almost be forced to sell.

 

Is that a possibility?

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From what i hear Gilette doesnt want to sell his share because he see's the club for his son, the way Glazer does for his sons.

 

They want their sons to have something with long term stability that will also make them money.

 

I realise this plan has been compromised since Foster has moved back to America, with his wife who "hates liverpool"... but you never know.

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Whats to stop DIC buying Gilletts share leaving Hicks with only 50% and also he'd be outnumbered on the board assuming Parry and Moores and still anti him? If he has no support at board level he'd never get his way and would almost be forced to sell.

 

Is that a possibility?

 

Eh? Hicks has 50% to start with.

 

That's the fucking problem.

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I hope it is sooner rather than later. I think Bacombe was unequivocal in saying DIC will buy, and many fans thought it was imminent. Hopefully it will get done before the summer, so Rafa (or new manager if that's what they do) can have a clean slate and then get on with it for next year and onwards.

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BANKING & FINANCE / COMMENT /

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The beautiful game doesn’t mean beautiful profits

by Andrew Neil on Sunday, 03 February 2008

 

When it comes to football, normal rules of business don't apply. You think with your heart, you do the sums with your feet and your make key decisions with your best pals over dinner.

 

So it is with huge surprise - and more than a little concern - that I see Dubai International Capital (DIC) is preparing another bid for Liverpool Football Club. By the time you read this column, the chances are DIC's US$500 million offer will have been accepted; one of the world's most famous clubs will be in Arab hands.

 

But I find this deal difficult to understand for several reasons. First, let's look at DIC's current investment strategy: it has major stakes in seven companies across the globe and in another seven private equity funds. According to its own website, DIC is "focused on acquisitions of market leading companies in Europe and North America, with a proven strategy and robust management".

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I could rest my case here: Liverpool FC is an iconic football team but "proven strategy and robust management" aren't words that quite go with it. The current owners paid US$340 million for the club last year; they took on US$87.7 million of debt; and soon agreed to the building of a new stadium. Now they have run out of cash and their total loans are approaching US$690 million. No wonder they need to get out in a hurry.

 

DIC can argue that Hicks and Gillett have made a mess of a fantastic brand and business; so stepping in makes perfect sense. They will point out that the boss of DIC, Sameer Al Ansari, is a lifelong Liverpool fan. This is what concerns me most.

 

Let's look at other "lifelong fans": Mike Ashley has pumped US$500 million into Newcastle Football Club, with no sign of any return in the next five years; Sir Alan Sugar eventually had to let go of his beloved Tottenham Football Club; Mohammed Al Fayed of Harrods fames is out US$700 million and counting at Fulham Football Club.

 

Football, whichever way you look at it, is not a business in which you will make money quickly. Which is why I fear Ansari and Co will come unstuck.

 

Their current investments abroad have all so far been admirable and with a clear profit return path. Take one of the most recent, a US$1.2 billion stake in Alliance Medical, a company which specializes in providing outsourced diagnostic imaging such as MRI scans.

 

DIC can open up the huge Middle East market. Nothing wrong with that - after all, that's what DIC exits for: to get into businesses, turn them around and get out.

 

But Gillett and Hicks got into Liverpool, realized they couldn't turn it around and got out in a hurry: the demands of 40,000 fans every weekend, the national media, the cries for new players and a new stadium, proved too much and too expensive.

 

Sameer Al Ansari is about to experience all this first hand. Football fans taking over football clubs have historically been marriages made in hell. Ansari is a smart man - if anyone can break the mould, he can. But I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

Andrew Neil is the former editor of The Sunday Times and chief executive of BSkyB. He is currently chief executive of Press Holdings Media, chairman of ITP, chairman of World Media Rights and a presenter of This Week (BBC1) Daily Politics (BBC2) Straight Talk (BBC News24).

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Don't know how reliable this Andrew Neil is.

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Sheikh to try again

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE Liverpool v Sunderland, today, Kick-off 5.15pm

By David Maddock 02/02/2008

 

Sheikh Mohammed is ready to test the partnership between the joint owners of Liverpool by making a formal offer for the club.

 

The billionaire's investment company DIC has been studying closely the terms of a restructuring deal at Anfield that Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett announced last week.

 

And now the investment arm of the Dubai government is primed to approach the pair with a fresh offer that will value the club in the region of £300million.

 

DIC's hopes of buying the club they first bid for a year ago seem to rest on exploitation of the uneasy relationship between the two US tycoons.

 

Hicks has taken the lead in recent weeks by announcing a refinancing deal with the banks that secures his grip on the club - and he also unveiled £300million plans for a new state-of-the-art stadium.

 

Gillett, who has the option of selling his 50 per cent stake, has remained conspicuously silent during that fanfare - and his position is the key to success for the increasingly confident Sheikh.

 

Sheikh to try again - Mirror.co.uk

 

Maddock is a whore who just re-writes the Liverpool Daily Post stuff.

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BANKING & FINANCE / COMMENT /

Print this page | Email this to a friend | Discuss this article (0 Comments) |

The beautiful game doesn’t mean beautiful profits

by Andrew Neil on Sunday, 03 February 2008

 

When it comes to football, normal rules of business don't apply. You think with your heart, you do the sums with your feet and your make key decisions with your best pals over dinner.

 

So it is with huge surprise - and more than a little concern - that I see Dubai International Capital (DIC) is preparing another bid for Liverpool Football Club. By the time you read this column, the chances are DIC's US$500 million offer will have been accepted; one of the world's most famous clubs will be in Arab hands.

 

But I find this deal difficult to understand for several reasons. First, let's look at DIC's current investment strategy: it has major stakes in seven companies across the globe and in another seven private equity funds. According to its own website, DIC is "focused on acquisitions of market leading companies in Europe and North America, with a proven strategy and robust management".

Story continues below ↓

advertisement

 

 

I could rest my case here: Liverpool FC is an iconic football team but "proven strategy and robust management" aren't words that quite go with it. The current owners paid US$340 million for the club last year; they took on US$87.7 million of debt; and soon agreed to the building of a new stadium. Now they have run out of cash and their total loans are approaching US$690 million. No wonder they need to get out in a hurry.

 

DIC can argue that Hicks and Gillett have made a mess of a fantastic brand and business; so stepping in makes perfect sense. They will point out that the boss of DIC, Sameer Al Ansari, is a lifelong Liverpool fan. This is what concerns me most.

 

Let's look at other "lifelong fans": Mike Ashley has pumped US$500 million into Newcastle Football Club, with no sign of any return in the next five years; Sir Alan Sugar eventually had to let go of his beloved Tottenham Football Club; Mohammed Al Fayed of Harrods fames is out US$700 million and counting at Fulham Football Club.

 

Football, whichever way you look at it, is not a business in which you will make money quickly. Which is why I fear Ansari and Co will come unstuck.

 

Their current investments abroad have all so far been admirable and with a clear profit return path. Take one of the most recent, a US$1.2 billion stake in Alliance Medical, a company which specializes in providing outsourced diagnostic imaging such as MRI scans.

 

DIC can open up the huge Middle East market. Nothing wrong with that - after all, that's what DIC exits for: to get into businesses, turn them around and get out.

 

But Gillett and Hicks got into Liverpool, realized they couldn't turn it around and got out in a hurry: the demands of 40,000 fans every weekend, the national media, the cries for new players and a new stadium, proved too much and too expensive.

 

Sameer Al Ansari is about to experience all this first hand. Football fans taking over football clubs have historically been marriages made in hell. Ansari is a smart man - if anyone can break the mould, he can. But I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

Andrew Neil is the former editor of The Sunday Times and chief executive of BSkyB. He is currently chief executive of Press Holdings Media, chairman of ITP, chairman of World Media Rights and a presenter of This Week (BBC1) Daily Politics (BBC2) Straight Talk (BBC News24).

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

 

Don't know how reliable this Andrew Neil is.

 

He is not a business or economic analyst. He is a glorified reporter. His analysis is naive.

 

That said, the only arguments for DIC are (a) goodwill from ownership of an international vehicle to strengthen the "Dubai brand": (b) after a start-up period of 5-6 years which would have negative cash flow, a sustained period of substantial positive cash-flow and the prospect of very large captial gains if the decision were made to dispose of the club.

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I think we all feared that when Moores had decided to sell, whoever bought the club would not understand how to do a proper ownership. Moores, for all his faults, didn't figure in the media all the time for all the wrong reasons like the current incumbents. In short, there was bound to be more drama than we were used to. Not the Liverpool Way, if you like.

 

The upside would be that the new owners would have the financial clout to move the club forward, especially off the pitch. The new stadium is paramount to the clubs future.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't get both with Gillett and Hicks. We got the drama, and even more than can be tolerated, they have actually run the club so poorly that it's having a direct influence on the team's performances.

 

The only good thing I can say about DIC is that the drama can't possibly get worse than it is now (we even have two owners who don't see eye to eye, allegedly), but at least they've got the financial clout to do things properly, if they want. What they actually want remains to be seen.

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Chief Executive of BSKYB and former editor of the Sunday Times is hardly tin pot. Not to mention his other interests... but then we all know DIC will get in at some point.

 

No we dont know that at all.

 

Things might be looking somewhat good, towards that being a reality i mean.

But we sure as fuck dont know that.

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He talks about G&H as 'Got out in a hurry' as though it has already happened. he also talks about DIC as though that has already happened/is in the process of happening.

 

Andrew Neil is a senior serious media type, and he doesn't usually comment on sport. If he is making these comments then it adds a lot of credence to the view that DIC are going to buy the club, and pretty sharpish.

 

I know Bascombe first said it, so kudos there, but a lot has happened since Bascombe first broke the story.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if DIC complete the deal and bring Mourinho in as their own man this summer. They might want a complete break with Rafa since a new day will be dawning. That would be slightly harsh on Rafa, given that none of us knows how we'd have fared this season without all the interference, but it would be understandable nontheless.

 

That's how I see things unfolding (which is as Bascombe called it ages ago, though even he could not have predited all the twists and turns of the past few weeks).

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Yawn, it''s not noon yet & Walter Mitty has knocked out umpteen posts.

 

Best friend of DIC, Bascombe, you name it they all gravitate to St Albans.

 

Rafa March-but you want him out?

 

I have seen so many posts by you directed at me but unfortunately I deal with cunts. So sorry, no comment.

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Despite living near London, yes I have, several times a season as a PTS member. But even if I hadn't ever set foot in the place you would still be a cunt for asking me that.

 

Like that word don't you-easy to type??

 

Why would I be one for asking you?

I genuienly wonder how you're such an expert on the team & players not going to many games? Or will all your contact & discussion with the media & ex players, directors etc limit your chance to do so?

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