Liverpool Takeover Complete

So the American duo of George Gillett and Tom Hicks have have finally completed their takeover of Liverpool. They have now received agreement from 98.6% of the former shareholders to sell their shares and under the London Stock Exchange rules, the small remaining balance can be can now be purchased compulsorily.

The two American sports fans had previously gained unconditional control of Liverpool by passing the 80% share threshold, but under the Stock Exchange rules the new mark of 98.6% brings their takeover to a conclusion.

The Soccer Blogger understands that the Americans will now attempt to re-register the Premiership club as a private limited company.

A lot has happened on Merseyside in a few short months as Liverpool had seemed set to tie up a deal with Dubai International Capital (DIC) in January. However, speculation suddenly grew that DIC wanted to sell the club in 2014 for what would probably have been a huge profit.

The then Liverpool Chairman David Moores and the rest of the Board decided to consider a new bid from Gillett at the start of February. Gillett then added Hicks to his team, and they made an offer of £5,000 per share and the deal was agreed on February 6th. That Liverpool even contemplated another offer obviously seemed to upset the fifth richest man in the world and DIC and they withdrew their bid well before.

There had been reports recently that Benítez, the Liverpool Manager, had been a little upset and unsettled that he had not been spoken to properly by Gillett and Hicks about their future plans. The stories started to fly out of Madrid that Benítez was their “chosen one” to take over after Capello. But Benítez was quick to squash any fears Liverpool fans may have had about his apparent departure and it is now understood that the Americans wanted to wait until officially completing their takeover before discussing plans for the future and will now meet with Benítez on Sunday. The new owners will be at Anfield to watch the game against Arsenal. Let’s hope for their sake they don’t witness another result like either of the two cups games early this year. You can imagine the talks after that!

Is there a happy ending in sight at Anfield?

The Soccer Blogger

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Many thanks
Rik