Liverpool FC in ‘advanced stages’ of MidEast takeover bid – report

The UK-based Star newspaper reports that talks are at “an advanced stage” with unnamed possible new owners from the Middle East.

Current owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which bought the club for $427 million (£300m) in October 2010, look set to double its return on investment, with Premier League club currently valued at $925m (£650m), thanks to the recent record-breaking TV deal and increased commercial activities at the club.

It’s not the first time that a possible MidEast buyer has been linked with Liverpool FC.

The former CEO of Dubai International Capital revealed in 2014 that it “almost signed” a takeover of Liverpool FC in 2007.

Sameer Al Ansari – who was founding chairman of what was effectively Dubai’s sovereign wealth fund – admitted the deal was delayed because he was personally a huge fan of the club.

“We would have been the first to do it out of this region. As soon as they won the Champion’s League in 2005, we got serious about due diligence in 2006 and almost signed in January 2007.

“What delayed us is because everyone knew Sameer was a lifelong fan of Liverpool, including His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. So we did three times the amount of due diligence as I had to prove the business sense and there were very few clubs frankly where you can make a business sense,” he told the Arabian Business.

Dubai’s bid fell through when the club’s then chief executive favoured instead a deal with American billionaires Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. The pair took over the club for $288m, but after running into huge debts, were forced to sell it soon after to FSG.

Al Ansari said: “At the time Liverpool, the financials, were reasonably good and the brand of the club was enormous and we felt that with the changes that was coming in TV rights and sponsorship and stadium naming rights there was a tremendous investment opportunity. We could have done it at $360m. I would have done it.”