LONDON (AFP) - US tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks are on the verge of owning one hundred percent of Liverpool football club, a statement to the London Stock Exchange revealed on Tuesday.
The pair's takeover vehicle, Kop Football Limited, has reached an agreement to buy 98.6 percent of the club's shares. Under London Stock Exchange rules the American businessmen are entitled to demand the sale of the outstanding 1.4 percent of shares.
Kop Football Limited said it now intends to seek to re-register Liverpool as a private limited company.
Earlier this month Hicks and Gillett had gained unconditional control of the club by passing the 80 percent threshold, after having a takeover bid worth 438 million pounds (646 million euros, 862 million dollars) accepted by the Liverpool board.
"Further to the offer made on 19 February 2007 by Kop to acquire the entire issued share capital of Liverpool and the announcement on 13 March 2007 that all conditions relating to the offer had been ... declared unconditional in all respects, Kop announces that the offer closed" on Monday, the statement said.
Liverpool is the third Premiership club to fall into US hands during the past two years after Manchester United was bought by the Glazer family and Aston Villa by tycoon Randy Lerner.
A report published Monday suggested that US entrepreneur Stan Kroenke was approached by ITV about buying the British broadcaster's 9.9-percent stake in Premiership outfit Arsenal.
Premiership clubs are being bought at a time when income of each of the league's 20 clubs is set to rise by an average of more than ten million pounds per year following a record-busting overseas television rights deal.
Booming demand from Asia and the Middle East has allowed the league to tie up contracts worth 625 million pounds for broadcasting rights for the next three years, boosting overall media income to a total of 2.725 billion pounds, 60 percent above current income levels.
source : soccernews.com
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