Reports: FSG reject £3billion takeover bid
According to a Daily Mirror exclusive and follow up from the Echo where the story isn’t denied, FSG have reportedly rejected a takeover bid from a group based in the Middle East, of just under £3 billion.
Crucially however, it is reported that this bid came in before the news of the proposed super league was made public so in light of what has transpired since, could FSG be forced into a rethink?
The report also stated the the bidder was just one of a number of interested parties from the Middle East, ready to make their move should FSG decide now is the time to sell up and with the Super league plans now in tatters, is this the best time for FSG to sell in order to maximise the return on their investment?
For most football clubs, this would not be a good time to be trying to sell. The financial impact the pandemic has already had, mixed with financial uncertainty moving forward – when will full stadiums be back, what is the likely forthcoming new government legislation going to look like for club owners? It’s likely TV money has already peaked as well, between the general belt tightening that will be happening across the globe in light of the pandemic and BT previously admitting they intentionally overpaid for the rights to the Champions League simply to announce themselves as major players in the sport broadcasting world. It’s not profitable for them however so they have previously said they won’t be offering the same terms again. So as I said, for most football clubs, this wouldn’t be a good time to be trying to sell… but Liverpool aren’t most football clubs.
With all the aforementioned and the Super league plan in the bin, do FSG now realise that this is as far as they can take Liverpool in terms of maximising value? Lots of recent success, a manager any team would love to have, a squad full of superstars (even if they are underperforming), new training ground and redeveloped stadium, will their asset ever be more valuable than it is right now? After all, turning an initial £300 million investment into £3 billion in 10 years, is good business in anyone’s book.
Where does that leave us with prospective new owners then? For a start, they would need seriously deep pockets. The kind of pockets that can stump up £3bn + in the midst of a global pandemic and in all probability, those pockets have to come from the the oil rich Middle East, China or yet more American ownership. With current sanctions against Russia, I think it would be difficult for owners from that part of the world and China is likely to go the same way so that probably leaves us with the aforementioned Middle East or American and having seen what’s happened recently and knowing FSG have likely already maximised the profitability of the asset, I don’t see that we’d be a particularly attractive proposition for American buyers.
In all likelihood then, our prospective new ownership will come from the Middle East but that leads to some trepidation as well. Do we want owners who are running the club by day and having journalists killed by night? Who run country’s where woman aren’t allowed to drive or go the shops by themselves? Etc etc.
The issue has left me torn between FSG’s position being untenable and better the devil you know. FSG have made numerous mistakes in their time with us – £77 tickets, furloughing staff, Project Big Picture and now this Super league debacle but they’ve always bowed to fan pressure and come grovelling back. They’ve also done a lot of good however, the redevelopment of Anfield, the training ground, bringing in Klopp and delivering success in the pitch, while away from the pitch they’ve built us into the commercial giants that our previous two ownerships were incapable of doing, which allowed United to pull so far ahead of us in that regard. FSG may not have been the best owners in world football but they’ve by no means been the worst.
My biggest issue with FSG now is trust. If they don’t sell up now, what exactly are their intentions moving forward? They appear to want to start acquiring other clubs in a City group and Red Bull style business model and that’s all fine, they can fill their boots with that as far as I’m concerned but what are their intentions for LFC now the Super League plans that, according to Fiorentina Perez, they’ve been working on for THREE YEARS have been scrapped. There’s a whole lot more questions than answers right now.
What do we think then troops? Has FSG’s reign simply become untenable and we’re happy to roll the dice and hope our new owners are suitable custodians of our club, or have FSG done enough good in their time to be allowed the opportunity to build bridges with the fan base once more?
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