Fri, Oct 15 10 03:37 AM
REUTERS - The Liverpool ownership saga rumbled on on Thursday.
Here is a timeline of the major developments.
Feb. 2007 - U.S. sports tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks pledge to keep Liverpool true to tradition after agreeing to pay 218.9 million pounds ($347.5 million) to take over the Premier League soccer club.
-- Billionaire Hicks is the owner of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team and the Dallas Stars NHL franchise, while Gillett owns NHL's Montreal Canadiens.
March 2008 - Takeover talks involving Hicks and Dubai International Capital (DIC) are terminated amid disagreement over who should be running the club.
-- DIC, which made a 400 million-pound ($807.6 million) bid for Liverpool, says it is "in advanced discussions" with Liverpool's co-owners although no agreement was on price or shareholding percentage.
Sept. 2008 - DIC rules out fresh bid for Liverpool.
April 16, 2010 - Liverpool goes up for sale. Hicks and Gillett appoint Barclays Capital to find a buyer.
-- Hicks and Gillett say in a joint statement that being owners of Liverpool for the past three years had been a "rewarding and exciting" experience.
Aug. 10 - Royal Bank of Scotland is supporting the club's sale by offering financing to potential buyers, banking sources say.
-- Creditors originally asked Liverpool's owners to pay 100 million pounds ($157.5 million) of its debt of around 250 million. The two could not make the payment and the debt financing was amended and extended "at least six times" since 2008 before the club was put up for sale in April.
-- Several Middle Eastern buyers expressed interest but the owners could not agree a purchase price, the bankers say.
Oct. 5 - Hicks and Gillett seek to remove managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre from the Board.
-- A statement from Hicks and Gillett says offers "dramatically undervalue the Club" but they are committed to finding a buyer that would sustain the future of Liverpool.
Oct. 6 - Liverpool's board agrees to sell the club to the owners of baseball's Boston Red Sox. The Premier League club say they have accepted a 300 million-pound ($477.6 million) offer from New England Sports Ventures (NESV) ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline to repay over 200 million pounds worth of debt. However the deal is being complicated because they are facing a legal challenge from Hicks and Gillett.
Oct. 8 - NESV are cleared to continue their proposed takeover of Liverpool by the Premier League.
Oct. 12 - Lawyers for Hicks and Gillett admit they have breached their contracts with RBS when they tried to sack board members in a final bid to keep control of the club.
-- Singapore billionaire Peter Lim makes a cash bid for the club of 320 million pounds which tops NESV. Lim says he will also make a further 40 million pounds available for manager Roy Hodgson to purchase players.
Oct. 13 - British court backs RBS and rules against Hicks and Gillett, supporting the club's board and its right to negotiate a deal.
-- NESV welcomes the High Court decision and says it had a binding agreement to buy the club.
-- Hicks and Gillett gain a temporary restraining order on the sale in a Texas court.
Oct. 14 - Lim says he is withdrawing his bid, adding that his interest in buying Liverpool could be revived if "current events cause the circumstances to change".
-- The takeover case returns to London's High Court which rules that the Texas court ruling is restrained.
-- A new hearing begins in Dallas with lawyers for Hicks and Gillett filing a motion for contempt of court which asked a judge to jail and fine club chairman Martin Broughton and other defendants. The case is adjourned until Friday.
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