Rhone group in talks over 100mil takeover.

[Sangria]

If ever there was gona be a chance for the fans and wealthy reds to get the club or at least a major share in the club its now if the clubs value is only £250m, have SOS got anything in mind for making a bid, maybe Moores,that crowd of film makers who claim to be fans that had an intrest a few year back,serveral other wealthy reds, and us as fans should now step up.I dont think this oppurtunity will arise again for quite some time. If SOS went to the RBS and said we'll cover the debt and give those cunts £20m each to fuck off maybe it could work, but once again it needs major public figures to front it for it to be taken seriously.

 

I think the time scale to organize it is against us. It would be an ideal scenario and one I would invest in but I think it is next to impossible given the time frame.

[Kennys_spell]

So you think Hicks and Gillett are going to sell Rhone 40% for approx £100m and thats it.

 

In the unlikely event of Hicks and Gillett building the stadium do you think that are going to borrow the cash and Rhone put nothing towards the cost of the ground?

 

 

By George, I think he's got it. Rhone are a personal equity firm - they gather funds from clients and invest those funds in 'businesses' that will give them a return for being provided with needed funds. There is NO POSSIBILITY of Rhone producing further funds for squad building, stadium building or anything else. That's not the nature of the "Equity" business.

[spider-neil]

So you think Hicks and Gillett are going to sell Rhone 40% for approx £100m and thats it.

 

In the unlikely event of Hicks and Gillett building the stadium do you think that are going to borrow the cash and Rhone put nothing towards the cost of the ground?

 

I think its safe to say neither rhone, hicks or gillette will be using one penny of their own money for players, stadium or whatever, it will all come from loans.

 

the long and the short of it is the debt coming down by a 100m would allow the yanks to GET that loan, the loan would then be treated like a mortgage i.e. you spread the cost over a really long period of time with the stadium itself being the security that can be reposessed if things go tits up.

[Kennys_spell]

I think its safe to say neither rhone, hicks or gillette will be using one penny of their own money for players, stadium or whatever, it will all come from loans.

 

the long and the short of it is the debt coming down by a 100m would allow the yanks to GET that loan, the loan would then be treated like a mortgage i.e. you spread the cost over a really long period of time with the stadium itself being the security that can be reposessed if things go tits up.

 

Is Correct - the burden for the mortgage would simply be spread over three principles rather than the current two.

 

**In reality it's only one Principle - us, the mugs who pay for tickets.

[Red-Ed]

Anyone know what the chances are of another previous bidder coming back with a £300 million offer or similar? If Gillette is prepared to walk and they need the money then maybe there's a glimmer of hope within. Would Hicks really want to hang around for just a 30% stake?

[Kennys_spell]

Anyone know what the chances are of another previous bidder coming back with a £300 million offer or similar? If Gillette is prepared to walk and they need the money then maybe there's a glimmer of hope within. Would Hicks really want to hang around for just a 30% stake?

 

Until ANY offer is accepted and legally binding - anything is possible.

 

Look what happened with DIC and the Cowboys.

[Guest Ulysses Everett McGill]

I said it the other day, and nothing since has changed my mind

 

This Rhone bid is nothing more than an advertisement

[JohnnyH]

I said it the other day, and nothing since has changed my mind

 

This Rhone bid is nothing more than an advertisement

 

I really hope you are right. If not, we are in for 3 or 4 more years of mid table nothingness with the likes of Allerdyce managing us on a shoestring budget, and once that happes it's a long long way to get back to challenging even for 4th.

 

I am truly terrified at the thought of these asset strippers getting in.

[redrosetints]

I said it the other day, and nothing since has changed my mind

 

This Rhone bid is nothing more than an advertisement

 

You may well be right Andy.

 

I think we have to accept, as many have said, that whoever buy sus is going to be in it for the profit (Although DIC and Kraft would want to win too). So the good news from this deal would be that the clubs debt will be reduced to a much more sustainable 130m and that if they are looking to come on board it can only be with a view to building the damn stadium. Hicks, Gillet or these Rhone boys will not make a profit on us if we get relegated or go to the wall and especially in the Rhone groups case, as they will have put 100m of their own cash in. They aren't going to want to see that lost down the toilet.

 

We've always been exposed to this kind of thing though, what if Rhone come in, reduce the debt, buil;d the stadium there is nothing stopping the next lot buying us as a leveraged buy out again and it starts over once more.

 

The best we can hope for is that however ends up in control wants to see a 'brand' that is succesfull and in turn runs us as a proper business, maximising our revenue and thus in turn ensuring we are able to compete financially with the rest. There is no benevolent benfactor coming our way lads (and lasses).

[Arl arse]

This 20 day thing is nothing more than a planted story to pressure potential investors into making a bid as soon as possible.

 

Too many leaks, coming from Purslow..... ahem, I mean.. 'sources close to the deal'

[Durango]

By George, I think he's got it. Rhone are a personal equity firm - they gather funds from clients and invest those funds in 'businesses' that will give them a return for being provided with needed funds. There is NO POSSIBILITY of Rhone producing further funds for squad building, stadium building or anything else. That's not the nature of the "Equity" business.

And you think this is a good deal for us!

 

I'd also have serious doubt that RBS would rubber stamp this.

[Kennys_spell]

And you think this is a good deal for us!

 

I'd also have serious doubt that RBS would rubber stamp this.

 

What? Where did I say it was a good deal?

[navbasi]

100% of the club would be worth £296.25m if 40% if worth £118.5m - Surely one of the Indian/Arab Billionaires would be interested in the club at that price...

[Durango]

What? Where did I say it was a good deal?

By selling Rhone 40%,all Hicks and Gillett are doing his relinquishing 40% of what dividend they take out of the Club.

 

The Owners or RBS will not go for this deal

[WaltonRed]

Please make it stop

[ali]

Friends of world leaders with a plan for Anfield

 

From acquaintances of Sarkozy, to investors in toy shops – Ian Herbert and Nick Harris on the men making a £100m bid for Liverpool

 

Thursday, 18 March 2010

 

Liverpool fans have witnessed too many false dawns to harbour illusions about the latest possible saviours to be linked to their football club, but they can perhaps be forgiven that there is some serious money around this time. Rhone Group's senior partners include Robert Agostinelli, whose ex-wife Mathilde is a senior executive at Prada. He is an acquaintance of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and has spoken with deference about Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. Both Agostinelli and Steve Langman, another partner at Rhone, have invested in the Republican presidential campaigns of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.

 

But the new names issuing around the environs of L4 are actually in a different bracket to many of those that have been sounded before. These two are no billionaires and certainly not in the same stratosphere as those – from Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to Indians Mukesh Ambani and Subrata Roy – who have been linked with the club before in these turbulent past few years. The Rhone Group, with offices in New York, Paris and London, has an annual turnover of just £5.9m according to its most recent accounts. The critical factor is that the firm is not in possession of the funds it invests. Like any fund management outfit, it invests cash for others – be it pension funds or the savings of high net worth individuals. It was the fund management arm of Rhone Group which tabled a proposal at midnight on Friday with Liverpool FC, a "distressed" business, as it sees it, and one which should yield a cash return in the medium term.

 

Some supporters at Liverpool may feel that they do not covet these individuals as new proprietors. Agostinelli is an individual who once described Berlusconi as "a leader who will save the country" and who also once suggested that "the left is a cancer that needs to be eradicated." The spirit of Shankly this is most certainly not.

 

But if Rhone Group does turn out to be the majority shareholder at Liverpool, don't expect the imprimatur of the two partners to be all over the club. Rhone's investors are looking at Liverpool as "just another business deal", according to one source familiar with the outfit. Their other recent ventures have included financing for the clothes firm Quiksilver, putting money into the toy chain Early Learning Centre, and part-owning the aluminium company Almatis, which Rhone then sold, incidentally, to a former Liverpool suitor, Dubai International Capital.

 

With a portfolio as diverse as that, Rhone's partners are certainly not going to be willing to tolerate Tom Hicks and George Gillett commanding a controlling stake in the club. One of the mysteries of their proposed investment – the figure varies from £80m to £115 according to who you talk to – is why they would be willing to put so much money in for a 40 per cent share, only to face the prospect of Hicks and Gillett banding together to form a 60 per cent controlling influence. The details of any agreement signed off between Rhone and Liverpool would settle that. It is likely that Hicks and Gillett would have to agree to be sleeping partners and would need assurances of control. The Independent also understands that Agostinelli and Langman would not be seeking active involvement in the running of the club, as the current American incumbents have.

 

Remoteness need not be a bad outcome. If Christian Purslow, Liverpool's managing director, can resolve the £100m issue, he can set about rescheduling his club's debts over three years on better terms, rather than the sequence of 12-month arrangements which seem to make every June an anxious time at Anfield. There is confidence that if the club can be put on more secure financial footing in this way, then further capital can be secured to build the new Stanley Park stadium which has been the key to the club's financial future for so long. The suggestions are that Rhone Group would buy into that idea.

 

Needless to say, Hicks and Gillett have not expressed any great delight about Rhone Group, though the plight the club are now in does not give them room for manoeuvre with RBS. The future of the club is in the hands of Purslow, whom RBS see as the individual to deliver back some of the money they are owed.

 

It all points to a resolution of this stormy period in the club's history by the time the season is out. Though there are no other new prospective partners at the table, there is a belief at the club and apparently RBS too that Rhone might flush out interest from some of the other interested parties from Dubai and Saudi Arabia to India and all points in between who have melted into the background as quickly as they have surfaced. RBS's lack of anxiety about the repayment dates for the £100m it has asked Purslow to secure points to a feeling from the bankers' perspective that Rhone Group could be a force for the good, if no other buyers materialise.

 

The three-week deadline which Rhone have imposed on Liverpool means that April will be a critical month. Some observers close to the process of securing new investment believe that other bidders are waiting to see if Liverpool struggle towards a top four berth, an outcome which will make the club's financial position even more problematic and potentially force the price down. On the field, prepare for Liverpool v Manchester United, Sunderland and Fulham in that Premier League order. Off the field, prepare for something considerably more momentous.

 

Friends of world leaders with a plan for Anfield - News & Comment, Football - The Independent

 

The Early Learning Centre deal was partly financed by RBS

 

 

 

 

 

In Three Weeks' Time, Tom Hicks Might No Longer Control Liverpool FC

 

By Robert Wilonsky, Thursday, Mar. 18 2010 @ 8:13AM

 

 

Spirit of Shankly

 

Well, this is quite the surprise: Turns out Tom Hicks may be out as majority co-owner of Liverpool FC before the deal's done to make Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan the keepers of Your Texas Rangers. Over the last few days, the story's been bending to the point of this morning's breaking news that he's got 20 days to make a deal or else.

 

First, the back story: New York-based Rhone Group has been offering to take 40 percent of the club for a lousy £100-million investment -- the exact same figure Hicks and co-owner George Gillett owe the Royal Bank of Scotland. And, no, Rhone's principals are hardly soccer fans -- says this account, it's "just another business deal," which has Spirit of Shankly, the supporters union responsible for those billboards, more than a bit worried this is déjà vu all over again.

 

That £100-million payment would give Rhone 40-percent ownership in the club -- a controlling stake. That's despite the fact it's a far cry from the nearly $800-million offer Dubai International Capital tossed on the table two years ago, which Hicks rejected back when he could afford to reject $800 million.

 

Which brings us to this morning's news: Rhone has given Hicks and Gillett 20 days to accept the deal; after that, it's off the table. And, reports The Independent, the twosome just might have to take it: Originally, word was Hicks and Gillett had till July to pay down their debt to the Royal Bank of Scotland. Not so: RBS now wants at least some of that money by April 6. And with no other potential investors lined up, Rhone's the closest thing Hicks has to an Easter Bunny at this point.

 

And whilst we're on the subject of Sports Teams Tom Hicks Owns For Now: The Star-Telegram has uncovered how news of Ron Washington's (Texas Rangers Manager) positive test for cocaine leaked to Sports Illustrated. It was blackmail!

 

In Three Weeks' Time, Tom Hicks Might No Longer Control Liverpool FC - Dallas News - Unfair Park

[piscinin]

Not one journo has yet made me think. He knows more about what's going on that I do. And I've only read the stuff posted on here. Even Conn's original piece was amateurish.

[stringvest]

This story is the teabag of ever diminishing returns. Where's the beef, er tea?

[WaltonRed]

So can someone tell me if this going to happen or not?

[Anubis]

So can someone tell me if this going to happen or not?

 

No. It's not going to happen. You can sleep soundly now.

[WaltonRed]

Ta beast. Night

[Kennys_spell]

By selling Rhone 40%,all Hicks and Gillett are doing his relinquishing 40% of what dividend they take out of the Club.

 

The Owners or RBS will not go for this deal

 

I'll take that as you admitting I didn't say it was "a good deal".

 

RBS at this stage have absolutely NO SAY in what deal is done - they only thing they can demand is that £100 Mill is paid down off the debt.

[stringvest]

I'll take that as you admitting I didn't say it was "a good deal".

 

RBS at this stage have absolutely NO SAY in what deal is done - they only thing they can demand is that £100 Mill is paid down off the debt.

 

They have a little say, in that they can refuse to extend credit if they do not like the cut of any investor's jib. They can certainly remove themselves from the small list of potential providers of finance for the stadium build.

[Whelan]

If it's RBS's loan then they have a very big say in who the new investors would be, they would certainly want to know if the money is in place!

 

They are not exactly going to say over the phone 'Oh you have it all covered then Tom? That's okay, we'll give you another two years'.

 

At the moment the debt is owed to RBS and as such they do have a say.

 

On a side note, what an absolute giant of the financial world must Tom be! There is one small pleasure from all this it is the fact that the two Parasites must have been giggling away at the sheer luck that they bought this club for a pittance, and yet, he now looks like he will be shunted to one side less than a year or two after turning down £500 million!

[Kennys_spell]

They have a little say, in that they can refuse to extend credit if they do not like the cut of any investor's jib. They can certainly remove themselves from the small list of potential providers of finance for the stadium build.

 

I don't see how they can do that - the agreement they have reached with Purslow is that the debt MUST be paid down by £100 Mill in July. If it isn't they will step in and take further action, if it is they will extend the terms of the loan deal (not the amount loaned) up to a three/four year plan. That simply means that the value of the loan would be reduced, and the interest payments would reduce because they would be paid back over Three/Four years and not over 12 months as they currently are.

 

To be honest, RBS couldn't care where the money came from as long as it arrives back with them. Strangely enough I would have thought that RBS would be at the front of the queue offering the finance for the stadium given that it will to all intents and purposes (Stadium naming rights, Extra match day income, additional usage rights) it will be self funding.