Kenny Huang linked to Liverpool takeover

[Red Phoenix]

Will have to bite my tongue regarding the Chinese bid as it probably wouldn't go down too well if I spoke my mind. I don't think governments or government backed corporations/companies should ever be allowed to own our clubs though, and am shocked that the PL hasn't had rules in place to prevent this since it started. Feels almost like the end of football to be honest.

 

If Huang wins just make sure you don't try any Free Tibet mosaics in the Kop, as it might just be the last mosaic that the Kop ever has. Welcome to the circus indeed.

[BexBissel]

i'll go out on a limb and say Woy will be sacked by January. Chairman Mao doesn't accept anything other than 1st.

Nah, 2011 is the Year Of The Wabbit!

[James H]

China fund raises finance to match Liverpool asking price | Sport | The Guardian

[Royal Family]

Remember that we are the club that in 2007 had the straight choice between what was then a wealthy sovereign wealth fund, or two cowboys who had been bankrupted three times between them and clearly didn't have a penny of their own money to invest. And we chose the latter. We are the club that Abu Dhabi wanted to buy in 2008, ahead of City, but baulked at the price and above all the terms demanded by Gillett and Hicks, who wanted a future share of profits.

 

We've had false dawns before, and anyone who thinks that this will be a nice, easy, smooth transition is deluding themselves. Hicks and Gillett will do their very best to find a way to wreck this deal and, if they succeed, the Chinese will walk away rather than lose face or get entangled in a legal quagmire.

 

I'm deeply sceptical until - and above all IF - this happens. We will find a way to mess it up and the Chinese will buy Everton....

[Guest davelfc]

From the Guardian:

 

The Chinese fund represented by Kenny Huang has spent the past fortnight raising precisely the amount of cash required to finance a bid for Liverpool. Sources have confirmed to Digger that the China Investment Corporation, the sovereign-wealth fund to the world's most populous nation, is the organisation being fronted by Huang, who yesterday admitted interest in bidding for Liverpool.

 

In a series of trades since 19 July, CIC has sold $558m of shares in Morgan Stanley, equating to £351.4m. That sum is equivalent to Liverpool's debt to the nearest decimal place, and is exactly the number insiders say has been quoted to interested parties as the sale price.

 

China Daily, the English-language arm of the Chinese state media, reported yesterday: "China Investment Corp, the Chinese sovereign wealth fund that bought a 9.9% stake in Morgan Stanley in 2007, sold $90.5m of shares in the investment bank on 30 July, bringing the total amount divested in the last two weeks to about $558m."

 

Although sovereign-wealth funds have enormous values of assets under management, cash is generally tied up in equity and bond markets. This requires liquidation by share sales before major new investments can be made. It is therefore hugely significant that the £351.4m number is also equivalent to Liverpool's debt, suggesting that CIC is shifting its assets ahead of an offer for the five-times European Cup winners.

 

It also indicates that despite the ambitions of the Anfield club's chairman, Martin Broughton, to generate a return for Tom Hicks and George Gillett, China is refusing to reward them for their three-and-a half-year ownership of the club. The Americans' capacity to dictate terms is further reduced by the fact that there are few other credible bidders preparing to compete with Huang and CIC.

 

Even those involved in the sale process have dismissed the announcement yesterday from Yahya Kirdi, the former Syrian footballer with business links in Canada, of his intention to compete with Huang for Liverpool. Kirdi has previously talked of his interest but is said not to have meaningfully pursued it, but his interest could raise the price that current owners are looking for. The Rhone Group has also re-emerged as a possible interested party. But although it is regarded as being financially capable of mounting a bid, the private equity firm has come to the table before, having looked at a minority-stake investment in March. But it did not go through with the deal.

 

Huang confirmed for the first time yesterday he had contacted Liverpool's brokers in the sale – who together are Broughton and Barclays's investment-banking division, Barcap – to "register interest". He did state he "has made no formal bid", however CIC's cash-raising exercise demonstrates it is in a position to make an approach at any time.

 

In that event the red half of Merseyside might be concerned about the impact of direct investment from the Chinese government in their club. But in anticipation of negative reaction to its world-wide investment activities, CIC's website states: "CIC strives to contribute to the prosperity and development of local economies.

 

It adds: "CIC usually does not seek an active role in the companies in which it invests nor attempts to influence those companies' operations. CIC seeks long-term, stable, sustainable, and risk-adjusted return."

 

Although the message of prudence, at a time when CIC's dumping of £531.4m of Morgan Stanley shares has conspicuously not generated any money for transfer activity, might dishearten fans, it should not be interpreted as a lack of team investment. CIC would be purchasing a debt-free club and would be capable of taking out smaller, more affordable loans to finance team strengthening this summer.

 

And after the years of chaos associated with the unsustainable debt run up under Hicks and Gillett, that would no doubt be a welcome relief to Liverpool fans, as will the fact CIC is happy with Roy Hodgson being the manager.

 

 

China fund raises finance to match Liverpool asking price | Sport | The Guardian

[Menc]

Surely there’s little difference between CIC and DIC? Both are investment arms of nations. Both have dubious human rights records. It doesn’t mean that LFC will suddenly be implicit in human rights abuses though.

[Liquid football]

How & when?

 

Not having a go mate, just joshing!

[Pidge]

Hmm. LFC run by a quasi-socialist authoritarian... who knew?

 

Just kidding, I have concerns about both bids. But I have to say that usually the loudest bidders are the most desperate to get a deal done. The longer it goes on the more likely that one of the other bidders is making a good case. (For example, see Liebherr at Southampton).

 

The oddest thing about Kirdi is that all of the stories talk of him negotiating with H&G, which, considering BarCap are handling an open sale situation marks the bid as an obvious stall for me.

[TrimmTrabb]

The globalisation of ownership of clubs in the Premier League over the past decade has been mind boggling. I can't really get my head around China owning L.F.C.

 

Football is completely fucked up. Its infected by all the worst scurges of our generation and most of us recognise that. Even still for most of us turning our back on LFC or the game in general is not nearly an option. We have no choice but to accept the way the game has developed and as such we may as well just sit back, accept the world is a fucked up place and watch the trophies pile up..

[Guest davelfc]

Financial muscle makes Chinese bid favourite with Liverpool board - Premier League, Football - The Independent

 

Liverpool's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett appeared to be losing their fight to walk away from the club with a profit last night as Gillett's preferred Syrian buy-out bid was widely dismissed as lacking credibility and the rival Chinese move for the club was revealed to be backed by the state-owned Chinese Investment Corporation (CIC) which has $332bn (£209bn) of assets under management.

 

In another day of dramatic scrambling for the ownership of Liverpool, which coincided with manager Roy Hodgson confirming he is ready to make an £8m bid to bring Juventus' defensive midfielder Christian Poulsen to Anfield as a likely replacement for Javier Mascherano, representatives of Yahya Kirdi, the former Syria international now fronting the bid, insisted that a price has been agreed and a formal purchase agreement "is in the final stage of negotiation".

 

But the Kirdi camp could not explain to The Independent last night where their money was coming from, and this newspaper also understands that CIC is behind the rival Chinese move for the club, led by businessman Kenny Huang, which appears to remove one of the biggest uncertainties about that bid. CIC, formed in 2007 as a way of investing Chinese currency reserves, ploughed €800m (£665m)into one of the funds operated by the Apax Partners private equity company earlier this year, though a move for Liverpool would be something completely different to its previous activities.

Though questions remain about Huang – claims that he bid for a stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team in the United States, have been denied by the National Basketball Association – the precise source of the sovereign wealth which his representatives assert is behind him has not been divulged until now.

 

Gillett is desperate to fend off Huang's bid as the money offered would be used to buy the club's £237m debt from the banks and to invest in the club. None of the funds would go to Gillett or his co-owner Hicks, leaving them nothing from their initial personal investment of £130m. The firm suspicion remains that Gillett is touting Kirdi as a stalling device to prevent a Chinese takeover at the end of the month.

 

Liverpool's non-executive chairman, Martin Broughton, of Barclays Capital (BarCap), was recruited by Hicks and Gillett to find a buyer for the club but is aware that if he arranges a sale to buyers who make a mess of the club's future, his reputation will be severely damaged.

 

Broughton has suggested that there are several bids to weigh up before preferred bidder status is granted, preferably before the transfer window closes, though as of last night the Huang bid and that of the New York based Rhône Group – who have re-entered the picture, four months after their £100m bid for a share of the club ultimately proved fruitless – were the only the main contenders.

 

Despite reports to the contrary last night, a source close to the process said a bid from the Kuwaiti Al-Kharafi family looks unlikely to succeed, despite them having re-entered the picture recently.

 

Having made his part in the scramble for the club clear in a blizzard of publicity – perhaps to make sure that Hicks and Gillett can not manoeuvre him out of the picture behind the scenes as they did Rhône Group back in March – Huang has decided, or been asked, to move back into the shadows as his offer to buy out the club's £237m debt from the Royal Bank of Scotland is now considered.

 

To that end, Huang has clarified that his negotiation is ongoing and stipulated that only his PR agents, the Hong Kong office of Hill and Knowlton, are now authorised to speak for him. But the public job of pressing Liverpool to accept his bid by his deadline of tomorrow week, apparently in time for Hodgson to get his hands on Chinese funds to spend on transfers, has been well and truly done.

 

Though Broughton and BarCap have given Gillett clearance to pursue discussions with Kirdi, claims from the Syrian's representatives yesterday that an agreement on purchase price has been reached, which would pay off the club's debt and build the new stadium critical to their financial future, were met with bemusement by those close to the investment process.

 

Two sources in the financial community have suggested that the size of Kirdi's offer far outweighs Haung's, though with the source of his funds so unclear the fear is that he, like Gillett and Hicks, may be planning to borrow money to purchase with a leveraged buy-out which would leave the club's future as uncertain as ever.

 

Of the uncertain financial future, Hodgson would say only that it is better that the Americans be gone soon. "I don't want to go down the ownership route because I don't know enough about it," the manager said. "Unfortunately the owners we have are very unpopular with the fans. They know it and that is why they are prepared to sell the club."

 

The Chinese investment fund behind Huang's bid

 

* Established in Beijing in September 2007, the China Investment Corporation (CIC) is a $300bn (£190bn) sovereign wealth fund.

 

* Modelled on a similar fund in Singapore, It was originally established to utilise China's foreign exchange reserves for the benefit of the state and to mitigate risks in the country's huge foreign exchange reserves.

 

* The fund comprises of two halves: an operation which makes global investments, and China Huijin Investment Ltd, which invests in domestic state-owned financial institutions on the government's behalf. Reserves are mainly held in low-risk, low-yielding instruments such as US Treasury bonds, but the global recession has led CIC to attempt to diversify to improve returns.

 

* CIC recorded an 11.7 per cent return on their £37bn overseas investments last year, reversing a decline from the previous 12 months when investments fell 2.1 per cent as an indirect result of the global financial situation. Net profit totalled $41.66bn (£26.2bn) last year, almost doubling the $23.1bn (£14.6bn) from 2008. Nearly 44 per cent of the fund's equity investments were in North America, with 28.4 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region and 20.5 per cent in Europe.

 

* At the end of last year, the fund held shares in dozens of US-listed companies, including Coca-Cola, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and private equity giant Blackstone, while also having equity holdings in US-listed firms included shares in Motorola among others.

[WaltonRed]

Even those involved in the sale process have dismissed the announcement yesterday from Yahya Kirdi, the former Syrian footballer with business links in Canada, of his intention to compete with Huang for Liverpool.

[Liquid football]

I actually think that even if we did end up with a buyer with massive resources, it still wouldn't be like when Abramovich bought out Chelsea in terms of having a real noticable advantage over your competitors in the transfer market. 'Best' case scenario for us would be that we would be put on a par with Chelsea and Man City in the transfer market. When Abramovich came in Chelsea just blew everyone else out of the water.

 

It was all about the timing of it and the particular circumstances of the other competing clubs at the time.

[Pidge]

I actually think that even if we did end up with a buyer with massive resources, it still wouldn't be like when Abramovich bought out Chelsea in terms of having a real noticable advantage over your competitors in the transfer market. 'Best' case scenario for us would be that we would be put on a par with Chelsea and Man City in the transfer market. When Abramovich came in Chelsea just blew everyone else out of the water.

 

Overcharged obscenities?

[charlie 7]

Anyone confused by it all. Can't one person come forward buy the fuckin club, build a fuckin stadium and buy us some world class players. Fuck all this shite what i have just read you people are out there hurry up and buy us yer miserable twats.

[2pak]

Mystery backers? Tony, its been all over the place that CIC are behind Huang. Surely.

 

To all those weeping about human rights, there is no 'clean' money on this planet.

[RedKnight]

Big Trouble in Little China is on Film4, an omen.

[WaltonRed]

Mystery backers? Tony, its been all over the place that CIC are behind Huang. Surely.

 

To all those weeping about human rights, there is no 'clean' money on this planet.

 

In one.

[Guest TK-421]

Big Trouble in Little China is on Film4, an omen.

 

And we have a forumite called Kurt.

[RedKnight]

And we have a forumite called Kurt.

 

Spooky, only Jack Burton can save us now.

[redsfan]

Judging by reports it does suggest what few of us said that Huang has been told to now keep low profile.

 

Its funny because if this deal happens, Hicks and Gillett are removed from this club in such an embarassing way, far from what I always envisaged. Maybe Karma will kick in for us after 3 and half years of the bastards.

[Coro]

We have no choice but to accept the way the game has developed and as such we may as well just sit back, accept the world is a fucked up place and watch the trophies pile up..

 

We have no choice? Who the fuck are you trying to kid?

 

What a depressing post that is.

[Pidge]

 

Purslow?

[Saucepan]

Someone could ask twitter.com/hillandknowlton if any of this stuff is true.

 

By the way I just wached a video on their page about how they utilize social media, blogs, forums etc. in their PR activities and these guys really seem to have a good grip on things. It really was an interresting interview.

(I can’t post any links yet, Google search: "Tech PR in Troubled Timest" )

 

It left me with a feeling we are all being drip fed information via "select individuals" and journalists as part of a greater scheme.

[razor]

237,000,000. That's the number, Huang!

[Wor Horse]

NUMBERHUANG!