Liverpool owners block sale with US court order

Liverpool’s American owners have blocked the sale of the English football giants to the owners of baseball’s Boston Red Sox with a temporary restraining order granted by a US court, their lawyers said.

A statement late Wednesday from representatives of Tom Hicks and George Gillett came just hours after the High Court in Britain ruled against the American duo and in favour of the club’s board.

The board had agreed to sell Liverpool to New England Sports Ventures (NESV) and the British court victory appeared to clear the way to a concluding a deal — but this was stopped in its tracks by the US restraining order.

The order was part of a lawsuit filed by the Liverpool owners against their major creditor, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), three members of Liverpool’s board and NESV, said their lawyers Fish and Richardson.

Hicks and Gillett allege an “epic swindle” which would have sold the club at a price that was “hundreds of millions of dollars below true market value,” said the statement.

The lawsuit further seeks damages of around 1.6 billion dollars (one billion pounds, 1.1 billion euros), it added.

The twist in the Liverpool saga came after NESV chief John Henry arrived at a Liverpool board meeting Wednesday amid expectations that a deal was about to be finalised.

Liverpool confirmed later it had not been possible to complete the deal and vowed to fight the latest attempt to stop the sale.

“The independent directors consider the restraining order to be unwarranted and damaging and will move as swiftly as possible to seek to have it removed,” said a statement from the club.

According to the statement from Hick and Gillett’s lawyers, the restraining order was signed by Judge Jim Jordan of the 160th District Court in Dallas, with the court setting a hearing date of October 25 on the matter.

In the British court battle, lawyers for the US owners had argued for more time to find a better offer than the 300-million-pound (475-million-dollar) bid tabled by NESV, claiming the boardroom manoeuvring which led to the deal was illegal.

Justice Christopher Floyd however granted injunctions brought by RBS, rejecting Hicks and Gillett’s request to halt the sale negotiations.

“I am not prepared to grant any relief,” Floyd said. “If I did it would risk stopping the sale and purchase agreement going ahead.”

Floyd also ruled that attempts by Hicks and Gillett to scupper the deal last week by sacking two board members was the “clearest possible breach” of a refinancing agreement they entered into with RBS in April.

Hicks and Gillett, who took over the club in 2007, claimed that the English members of Liverpool’s board — chairman Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre — had not acted in the best interests of the club.

A delighted Broughton was mobbed by a crowd of around 100 Liverpool fans as he left the High Court following the ruling.

Legal analysts had predicted the board was likely to approve the NESV sale, despite a late bid from Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, who had tabled an offer worth around 360 million pounds in total.

Wednesday’s ruling allowed RBS to recover their 237 million pound (376 million US dollars) loan which Hicks and Gillett had been required to pay back by October 15.

However the NESV sale would leave Hicks and Gillett an estimated 144 million pounds (228 million US) out of pocket after a turbulent three-year reign at Liverpool, the most successful club in the history of English football.

Liverpool were put up for sale by the unpopular duo in April, who initially sought an asking price of around 800 million pounds (1.27 billion US), a figure that they subsequently dropped to 600 million (951 million US).

The American owners have been the subject of fierce protests from fans, who have blamed them for a steady decline in the club’s on-field fortunes and failure to deliver on a promised new stadium.

Around 7,000 supporters demonstrated before the club suffered a shock home defeat to Blackpool earlier this month, a humiliation which sent Liverpool into the relegation zone and confirmed their worst start to a season for 57 years.