Skootzkitty's Litter Box of Stuff

Hicks' Anfield takeover plans threatened by credit crunch

Andy Hunter The Guardian, Friday May 16 2008

 Liverpool's ownership saga is unlikely to be resolved until the start of next season despite the first public admission from Tom Hicks that the global credit crunch is taking its toll on his finances. The Liverpool co-chairman gave credence to the belief among the club's prospective owners, Dubai International Capital, that he will struggle to raise funds to complete a new stadium on Stanley Park yesterday when he postponed a £500m development in Dallas.

Hicks, the owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, is to revise plans for a 1.2m square-foot "Glorypark" of hotels, housing, office-space, shopping and entertainment next to the Rangers' stadium in Arlington after failing to secure the necessary financing. "We're in the most difficult credit crunch I've seen in 20 years," the Texan millionaire told the Dallas Morning News. However, despite the economic climate and Hicks' need to borrow a further £300m to complete Liverpool's new stadium by August 2011, events in Dallas will not affect Liverpool in the short term.

Under the terms of the £350m refinancing package that Hicks and co-owner George Gillett secured in January, £60m has been designated for the initial stadium work on Stanley Park. The revised project, scaled down by Hicks earlier this year, was granted planning permission for the third time last week and the existing funds will enable the club to meet development costs until October. That is when Hicks' ability to finance his ambitions for Liverpool and, by extension, pursue his aim of becoming the majority owner will be determined.

The Texan blocked Gillett's attempts to sell his 50% stake in Liverpool to DIC in March and the latter cannot break Hicks' power of veto over his holding. But Hicks now has only four months to raise the money needed to continue work on the new stadium and, with interest rates higher in the UK than in the United States, the project and the club's ownership issue remains clouded in uncertainty. DIC have long maintained that the fractured business relationship between Gillett and Hicks and the financial pressures of the stadium project would eventually force Hicks back to the negotiating table. The investment arm of the Dubai government has been encouraged by yesterday's announcement but while the postponement is an embarrassment to Hicks it does not signal the demise of his business empire.

 The former Liverpool player and first- team coach Sammy Lee, meanwhile, will become the club's new assistant manager. Lee has been out of work since being sacked as Bolton manager last season.

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