Liverpool takeover battle back in High Court

Liverpool’s ownership war will return to the High Court in London on Thursday after the Premier League team’s American owners used the US courts to prevent the sale of the club.

The High Court on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Tom Hicks and George Gillett to block the club’s English directors decision to sell Liverpool to the owners of baseball’s Boston Red Sox.

The ruling cleared the way for the board to agree a 300 million pound (475 million dollar) takeover by John W Henry’s New England Sports Ventures (NESV).

But before the board could finalise the sale, Hicks secured a temporary restraining order from a Texas court and the case will now go before High Court judge Christopher Floyd again on Thursday.

Hicks and Gillett, who bought Liverpool in 2007, claim that the English members of the club’s board — chairman Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre — have failed to act in the best interests of the club.

The last-ditch intervention by the American owners on Wednesday means more court action is necessary.

News of the injunction emerged as Liverpool’s directors were meeting with NESV chief Henry in London on Wednesday amid expectations a deal was to be announced.

The lawsuit filed by Hicks and Gillett is against their major creditor, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the three members of Liverpool’s board and NESV.

In the US court papers, Hicks and Gillett allege an “epic swindle” which would have sold the club at a price “hundreds of millions of dollars below true market value”.

They are also seeking damages of around 1.6 billion dollars.