Anger: A group of Liverpool supporters gather outside the High CourtThe Liverpool takeover struggle has taken another dramatic twist as Peter Lim raised his offer for the crisis club on the day the High Court showdown kicked off.
The club's major creditors Royal Bank of Scotland are taking on current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett in London today, where they have been accused of 'breathtaking arrogance' over their attempts to change the structure of the board.
But the drama in court is now threatened to be overshadowed by Lim's improved offer, which is bigger than that of prospective owner John W Henry. His company New England Sports Ventures had a £300million offer accepted last week against the wishes of Hicks and Gillett.
Singapore businessman Lim's cash-only offer - made to Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton - is £320m, with a further £40m promised for player transfers.
Lim claims his deal will remove the £200m debts taken on by the existing owners.
In a statement, Lim said: 'I respect and admire Liverpool Football Club, which is steeped in tradition and history. I am committed to rebuild the club so that it can soon regain its position at the pinnacle of English and European football, where it truly belongs.
'This is why I have stepped forward with this offer. I believe that if its massive debt burden can be removed, the club would be able to focus on improving its performance on the pitch.
Big day: Martin Broughton arrives'My offer pays off the existing owners’ bank acquisition debt and also frees the club of its own bank debt. If the board accepts this offer, the monies are available immediately thereby removing the threat of administration.
'The club needs to strengthen its existing squad. As part of this offer, I will be injecting £40m in cash into the club for Roy Hodgson to bring in new players during the upcoming transfer window. Liverpool needs to start winning again!
'My offer provides a firm financial platform from which the club can rebuild. Given the manner in which the sale process has been handled, I feel Martin and the board owe it to me, to the club, and to the supporters, to consider my offer.'
In the High Court today, RBS accused Hicks and Gillett of trying to change the running of the club to 'frustrate' its sale this Friday.
Richard Snowden QC, representing RBS, told Mr Justice Floyd that the American owners now admitted 'a calculated breach of contract' by seeking to change the constitution of the companies and the boards involved without the consent of the bank.
He said this was in order 'to frustrate the sale necessary to repay the bank £200m by this Friday'.
The bank secured an injunction on Friday to prevent the Americans sacking independent chairman Martin Broughton or any other board members.
Mr Snowden said Mr Hicks filed evidence that if RBS did not like what he was doing, then it could enforce its security rights.
'This would derail the carefully planned process designed to achieve a sale of the club in a timely manner.'
He said that plan would not carry the risk of Liverpool losing the nine points deducted by the Premier League when a team goes into administration.
Improved offer: Peter Lim wants to buy LiverpoolThe judge was asked to impose injunctions on the owners requiring them to restore the original constitutions of the companies and managing directors.
This would remove the final stumbling block to a £300 million takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which will see the RBS recoup its original £237 million loan to Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett when they bought the club in March 2007.
Broughton and managing director Christian Purslow arrived at the court just before 10.30am today. The case is now underway.
Fans sang the famous Kop anthem You'll Never Walk Alone outside on the Strand in London.
Henry is keeping a close eye on developments but he will not comment on the ongoing situation. However, in a move which will immediately endear him to supporters who have witnessed the 'at arms length' leadership of Hicks and Gillett he has started to engage with fans on Twitter.
'Hello LFC supporters,' he opened up with this morning.
That unsurprisngly brought a barrage of questions and comments to which he responded: 'Thanks Yes, everyone is hoping for the best. There have been enough twists and turns. Hopefully all gets sorted out soon; LFC moves forward.
'It would be inappropriate and presumptuous at this time to respond to questions. In the interim, we're all rooting for the same thing.'
Liverpool's major creditors - the Royal Bank of Scotland - are seeking High Court confirmation that Hicks and Gillett are in breach of contract and not in a position to block a sale.
The bank secured an injunction on Friday to prevent the Americans sacking independent chairman Broughton or any other board members.
They return to court lhis morning attempting to remove the final stumbling block to a £300million takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV) which will see them recoup their original £237million loan to Hicks and Gillett when they bought the club in March 2007.
The emergence of Singapore billionaire Peter Lim as the man behind the Asia-based bid overlooked in favour of NESV by the Liverpool board does not change the current situation.
NESV, owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise and led by Henry, have already concluded their negotiations and should RBS be successful in court, they are in a position to effect a swift change of ownership.
Support: Fans stand outside the courthouse on the opening dayThe bank's case is built around the fact that when Hicks and Gillett renegotiated an extension to their refinancing in April to allow a sale to be completed, they agreed to certain conditions.
One of those was a change to the board which saw Broughton come in alongside Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre, giving them a three-to-two majority to prevent the Americans blocking any sale they did not feel was in their interests.
It was also made clear Broughton was the only person who could change board members so when Hicks tried to sack Purslow and Ayre last week on the eve of the meeting to approve the NESV bid, the chairman rejected the move.
'RBS, in its capacity as lender to the Kop group of companies, received the benefit of various contractual undertakings from Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett in relation to the corporate governance arrangements that Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett agreed would apply to the Kop group of companies with effect from April 2010,' a statement from the bank read.
'Those undertakings provided for the appointment of Mr Broughton as chairman of the board and the appointment of the chief executive and commercial director of LFC to the Kop boards.
'As is well known, Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett purported to make changes to those corporate governance arrangements on October 4. This was in breach of those contractual undertakings.#
'In light of that purported breach of contract, RBS sought and obtained on Friday October 8, 2010 an interim injunction (preventing the removal of Broughton or any directors) against Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett until a further hearing scheduled for Tuesday.'
It also emerged on Monday that Liverpool's owners have been technically in default of their refinancing agreement for some time, despite the repayment deadline in two days' time.
RBS have chosen, however, not to enforce that default position which would have led to Kop Holdings going into administration and risk Liverpool incurring a nine-point deduction from the Premier League.
Pet sounds: A dog is draped in a Liverpool flag outside the courtThat could still happen if Hicks and Gillett have not repaid their £280million debts by Friday's deadline, but the court hearing is not concerned with those issues.
Hicks, who with Gillett stands to lose £144million if the NESV deal goes through, has maintained no such agreements with the bank exist and therefore Broughton has no authority to reject his plan to parachute son Mack and Lori McCutcheon, who works for Hicks Holdings, onto the board.
Last week his New York-based spokesman Mark Semer told Bloomberg News: 'There were no such undertakings given to Broughton. The board has been legally reconstituted and the new board does not approve of this proposed transaction.'
Meanwhile,Liverpool's prospective new owner Henry has told fans he hopes that the ownership battle is 'sorted out soon' as the club heads to the High Court.
The 61-year-old owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise is awaiting a verdict before he can complete a £300million purchase of the club.
Henry is keeping a close eye on developments but he will not comment on the ongoing situation. However, in a move which will immediately endear him to supporters who have witnessed the 'at arms length' leadership of Hicks and Gillett he has started to engage with fans on Twitter.
'Hello LFC supporters,' he opened up with this morning.
That unsurprisngly brought a barrage of questions and comments to which he responded: 'Thanks Yes, everyone is hoping for the best. There have been enough twists and turns. Hopefully all gets sorted out soon; LFC moves forward.
'It would be inappropriate and presumptuous at this time to respond to questions. In the interim, we're all rooting for the same thing.'
source: dailymail
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