Kenny Huang linked to Liverpool takeover

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Stevie, you do me a massive favour by posting those links up. I'd not see half of it otherwise. Ta.

[codyscott]

What I am confused about is the fit and proper test which is supposed to be conducted by the prem. I googled Hicks & gillett and they have been doing these LBO's since at least 2000. They have failed to pay back loans and left loads of companies to go bankrupt. If I can get this info by just googling their names, how come Moores & the board conducting the fit & proper test didn't. Gillett took out a racing team in 2007 which have also gone bust.

[captainharris]

What I am confused about is the fit and proper test which is supposed to be conducted by the prem. I googled Hicks & gillett and they have been doing these LBO's since at least 2000. They have failed to pay back loans and left loads of companies to go bankrupt. If I can get this info by just googling their names, how come Moores & the board conducting the fit & proper test didn't. Gillett took out a racing team in 2007 which have also gone bust.

 

 

David Moores:

 

"So many times I have had people ask me, and write to me, and quiz the people who are close to me:

 

“Wouldn’t a simple Google search have told you all you needed to know about Tom Hicks?”

 

I could be flippant and tell you I don’t know what Google is (I have never used a computer in my life). "

[Jim MM]

What I am confused about is the fit and proper test which is supposed to be conducted by the prem. I googled Hicks & gillett and they have been doing these LBO's since at least 2000. They have failed to pay back loans and left loads of companies to go bankrupt. If I can get this info by just googling their names, how come Moores & the board conducting the fit & proper test didn't. Gillett took out a racing team in 2007 which have also gone bust.

 

Simple. They made sure David Moores got paid and the PL didn't give a fuck.

[Trumo]

What I am confused about is the fit and proper test which is supposed to be conducted by the prem. I googled Hicks & gillett and they have been doing these LBO's since at least 2000. They have failed to pay back loans and left loads of companies to go bankrupt. If I can get this info by just googling their names, how come Moores & the board conducting the fit & proper test didn't. Gillett took out a racing team in 2007 which have also gone bust.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Perfectly valid question given their investment history. I think they pulled a fast one on Moores, Parry and the fans. If you recall they said they would NOT do what the Glazers did, but the importance was in the wording. They said they would not put a loan on the club to purchase it, but what they didn't say was that they would secure a temporary bridging loan against their own assets, then refinance it, thereby placing (or trying but failing to place) the entire debt burden onto the club, as per their regular modus operandi.

 

But yes, their investment record should have given a clue, as would the fact that Gillett suddenly came back to the table at the 11th hour with Hicks on board, having previously been rebuffed, presumably because Parry knew he didn't have the funds. All of a sudden they make an offer way above that of the preferred bidders DIC. Other than offering more money for the shares, what else about the Gillett/Hicks bid was different from the original Gillett bid?

 

Aston Villa fans may hate Doug Ellis for not being willing to take them further, but they should be extremely glad he told Gillett to do one when he was looking to sell Villa.

[stringvest]

David Moores:

 

"So many times I have had people ask me, and write to me, and quiz the people who are close to me:

 

“Wouldn’t a simple Google search have told you all you needed to know about Tom Hicks?”

 

I could be flippant and tell you I don’t know what Google is (I have never used a computer in my life). "

 

the meff born with a canteen of silver cutlery in his gob.

[Pinhead]

Gulf businessmen ?, it's always Kirdi/Huang/Rhone/Al-Kharafi

 

Someone new like to join the auction perhaps ?

[Code]

Can we have him instead?

 

Welcome to Billy Stadium.

[codyscott]

I found this info quite easily.

 

By late 1989, Gillett Holdings was in trouble: George Gillett sold WSMV-TV for $125 million and used most of the proceeds to pay down bank loans. He astutely avoided capital gains taxes by selling the station to a minority-controlled entity, Cook-Inlet, but the transaction left $27 million due on the company's financing by August 1990. Meanwhile that fall, Storer Communications defaulted on $153 million in interest on public debt. But rather than force Storer Communications into bankruptcy, Gillett managed to convince bondholders to restructure the subsidiary's more than $500 million bonded debt. The creditors forced Gillett to cut his equity stake in the company from 55 percent to 41 percent, but Gillett maintained control of Storer Communications. He also postponed interest and principal payments on the refinanced debt until 1995, at which point bondholders would be paid in kind, not cash. Gillett considered selling some of the Storer stations, but prices for even the highest-rated affiliates had fallen 30 percent since their purchase.

 

 

Storer Communications' financial troubles reflected upward onto Gillett Holdings, which had problems of its own brewing. By 1990 the company's bonds had become so insecure that some traded as low as 17 cents on the dollar. Then, in August, Gillett Holdings defaulted on over $450 million in debt. By February 1991, bondholders frustrated with Gillett's half-hearted attempts at restructuring filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition. When the company failed to meet the resulting court-imposed restructuring deadline of June 25, the company was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the meantime, Leon Black, a former director of Storer Communications and co-engineer of the Gillett takeover, purchased large blocks of Gillett Holdings stock through his investment vehicle, Apollo Advisers. The purchases gave Black the leverage to block any restructuring schemes of which he didn't approve.

 

 

Wrangling over restructuring of Gillett Holdings between Black and Gillett culminated in a January 1992 plan. Ownership of Gillett Holdings' three remaining television stations was transferred to the bondholders and Gillett himself lost control of the company, although he maintained a 40 percent nonvoting stake in Storer Communications. The plan also stipulated that George Gillett would continue to manage the television stations at a minimum salary of $30,000 weekly. The restructuring plan proposed to cut Gillett Holdings' $1.2 billion debt in half, as Leon Black offered to forgive debt in his control and contribute $40 million cash to jumpstart the floundering operation in exchange for 52 percent ownership of the new company.

 

 

At that point, however, yet another takeover mogul stepped into the picture. Carl Icahn had purchased $65 million in low-ranking junk bonds, and had earned a small voice in the restructuring plans. Unhappy with the 10 cents on the dollar he and other bondholders in his class were offered in the original plan, Icahn made public and private complaints that eventually earned him 16 cents and at least 15 percent of the restructured Gillett Holdings' equity.

 

 

By April 30, 1992, a plan was submitted to Federal Bankruptcy Court that was revised to reduce Gillett Holdings' debt by $75 million and rescind George Gillett's options to repurchase stock and buy back specified corporate assets. That same day, lawyers for Gillett Holdings filed 44 bankruptcy cases, placing nearly all of the conglomerate's subsidiaries under court protection.

 

 

By late 1992, as Gillett Holdings looked forward to its emergence from bankruptcy court, Storer Communications defaulted on a $140 million principal repayment that threatened to cast the subsidiary into Chapter 11 as well. George Gillett himself was not immune to the "bankruptcy bug," either: In August he filed for personal bankruptcy, losing his collection of 30 sports cars and a 235,000-acre Oregon ranch in the process. However, the still-savvy entrepreneur managed to protect his $1.5 million annual salary, $5 million in Gillett Holdings securities, and $125,000 per year in life insurance premiums.

[Guest davelfc]

DH YNWA.tv

Spoken to my contact in the last half hour at length. He says he believes that the Chinese are the only real show in town and that they are working with LFC as we speak trying to get this thing done within hours/days.

[codyscott]

I tried to post the links but as I am new I can't. Neither should have passed the fit & proper test.

 

 

Tom Hicks' net worth, as calculated by Forbes, is in the hundreds of millions but that by itself is a deceiving figure. What is determined as worth and the actual amount of worth that can be easily gotten at a moment’s notice can be and usually are different stories. As Dan McGraw, in an article titled “Is Tom Hicks Going Broke?” (7/02), wrote, “Net worth is one thing; liquidity is something else entirely. Hicks' money is tied up, some in outside investments, some in Hicks Muse funds. Ready cash is a scarce commodity, no matter how many zeroes you have on your balance sheet.”

 

In 2001, Hicks had already tried to refinance about $190 million in debt that was primarily owed by his two teams, the Stars and the Rangers into a single loan to be held by SSG. By bundling debt, Hicks can receive better interest rates and reduce overall expenses. The reality for Hicks is that he is feeling the same economic crunch that many of his colleagues in his business are also feeling. But in 2001 sports in America , contrary to some officials (See Selig before Congress in 2001), is seen as a good investment. And the fact is that SSG which is a part owner in the American Airlines Arena and sees half of those revenues and its resultant operation profits can use that as collateral against any refinancing terms.

 

But now in late 2002 Hicks and his partners have to pay off their failed internet investments and the interest on that debt is running at about $30 million a year. Also, the HMTF funds are maturing, which means the management fees will be leveling off.

 

The Rangers are playing badly on the field and that translates into a poor showing at the turnstiles. Less people means less money coming in from all other stadium revenue sources such as concessions and other merchandise sales. In 2002, the Rangers lost about $35 million in operation profits and their losses when interest costs were added were reported at about $50 million.

 

Then Hicks in September 2002 places the Dallas Stars and his arena interest on the block but finds no takers at his asking price, which is assumed to be around $250 million. Hicks removes the Stars and the arena from the market place. It is leaked, coincidentally, that he had won a financial restructuring from banks to temporarily lower some of the financial struggles attached to his loans. Noteworthy is the fact that the NHL is not at its economic peak at the time with most teams losing money and a threatened labor disturbance and possible league shutdown looming in the near future.

 

 

 

This agreement expired on June 15, 2002 . With the Stars and Rangers debt still a part of the SSG books the company goes into a technical default on that day.

 

In July 2002, the Dallas Business Journal reports that Southwest Sports is defaulting on loans “of $135 million of debt because of steeper than expected financial losses at the teams, four well-placed sources told Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal.”

 

It is reported that SSG had made a principal payment on a loan but was not able to meet certain other financial requirements of the alone from the lender. The article says, “Most loans, in addition to requiring regularly scheduled interest and principal payments, also call on borrowers to maintain certain levels of financial performance, often measured through cash flow and revenue. It is here that Southwest Sports Group stumbled, signaling just how poorly Hicks' sports empire has fared financially and another sign of the ailing sports economy.”

 

A Hicks official, who asks to remain anonymous, says, "The default is a technical default that has existed only since June 15 -- and is not a principal or interest (payment) default. Tom Hicks is in the process of refinancing that loan."

 

 

 

It is reported that the company “will look to cure the default through the refinancing, and perhaps by aggressively slashing the Rangers' payroll. The Stars' payroll, ranked fourth in the NHL last season, could take a hit, too.”

 

Any of this beginning to sound familiar?

[Kopite Pete]

How likely is this? Nicked from elsewhere.

 

It was this is the bit from the Boardman article/'expose' that interested/concerned me:

 

Facts

 

Mr Diamond said: “Let’s deal with facts. Our group’s interest preceded the hiring of Martin [broughton] and BarCap. We were one of a number of parties who had expressed interest who the current owners held out of the Broughton/BarCap search for new buyers. The owners excluded the parties on this list from BarCap’s territory. So we were ‘grandfathered’ and were never directed to do anything other than negotiate with the owners. That said, we hope to win the support of the LFC Board based on the strength of our bid.

 

This, to me, looks like GG and TH running a parrallel sales process that falls outside the one being conducted by MB. It also looks that it was planned some time ago, possibly with the help of their lawyers, as a strategy to frustrate the sales process if it wasn't going their way. They realised/advised that the only way they could prevent RBS foreclosing in October is by embroiling the whole MB sales process in a huge legal battle and by serving an injunction on RBS preventing foreclosure, on the grounds that the 'dispute' needs to be decided by the High Court.

 

The 'dispute' will be the failure of MB to opt for the Kirdi 'bid' (if thats what happens) involving minute examination of his reasoning for doing so. This could take months, maybe years, with collateral damage for everyone concerned.

 

A potential outcome could be that GG and TH are awarded damages for the loss of profit that would have achieved within the Kirdi deal.

 

However, I suspect they're banking on someone providing them with a 'sweetner' to go away.

[Rafa_The_Gaffa]

Can we email MB and ask him NOT to accept the kirdi deal? I dont like the look of kirdi, I dont trust his "manifesto" and i certainly dont like the picture of him with CnA.

[codyscott]

Thanks for the welcome guys. Brilliant and well set out forum.

[Chinandeler Bong]

All of it , the whole saga from day one of GG and TH has been an absolute disaster and embarrasment. Nobody wants us , nobody is going to get us under the terms that have been set by either BarCap, Broughton or the Cunts, the club is doomed to fail. Ive never known a " company " and im sorry to use that word , ive never known a buy out or sale to take so fucking long, be so fuckin complicated and bring out all the shite from the woodwork who lets be fair, only want what is best for themselves, they dont give two fucks about the fans or the heritage or tradition, its the dollar,pound, yen etc that matter to them, Commercialisation, Marketing, Brand A-FUCKIN-wareness. . .

Fuck off.

[Kopite Pete]

Sky News has just said that the Syrian has "gazumped" the Chinese bid and the deal will be done in the next few days. I hope not.

[torahboy]

Sky! Why?

[Major Tom]

All of it , the whole saga from day one of GG and TH has been an absolute disaster and embarrasment. Nobody wants us , nobody is going to get us under the terms that have been set by either BarCap, Broughton or the Cunts, the club is doomed to fail. Ive never known a " company " and im sorry to use that word , ive never known a buy out or sale to take so fucking long, be so fuckin complicated and bring out all the shite from the woodwork who lets be fair, only want what is best for themselves, they dont give two fucks about the fans or the heritage or tradition, its the dollar,pound, yen etc that matter to them, Commercialisation, Marketing, Brand A-FUCKIN-wareness. . .

Fuck off.

 

That's the spirit!

[Anubis]

Sky News has just said that the Syrian has "gazumped" the Chinese bid and the deal will be done in the next few days. I hope not.

 

Gazumped by offering the board a lifetime of free pizza? Provided they visit one of his four shops in Canada, that is. SSN have been pushing this for days.

 

While I'm here, does anyone have David Gold's mobile number so that I can ring him and tell him to stop dipping his fucking perv's beard into our business.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

That's funny, like he didn't know the make-up of the board or something.

 

I can't help but think that George would still be around if this Syrian bid, that SSN keep pushing, was true and came off.

 

I can see Tom walking away, but there is something about George, were I think he has got more to lose than Hicks.

[JER]

Can we email MB and ask him NOT to accept the kirdi deal? I dont like the look of kirdi, I dont trust his "manifesto" and i certainly dont like the picture of him with CnA.

 

I don't like the fact that he is hiding some shady consortium either (as he clearly has no money himself). If the deal goes through then that really is the end for LFC.

[Tepid water]

I don't like the fact that he is hiding some shady consortium either (as he clearly has no money himself). If the deal goes through then that really is the end for LFC.

 

 

Unlike Haung...... Oh Haung on a minute....:wallbutt:

[Trucker Paddy]

The Times have been very quiet on this

[DJLJ]

The Times have been very quiet on this

 

Hmmm, perhaps it is a case of keeping their heads down after their last frontpage...

[goatboy59]

For this Sky nonsense to actually come off, one of three people will have had to vote with the vermin.

 

I suspect the Times will have plenty to say then!