Saudi Prince eyes 50 per cent stake
A SAUDI prince has declared he is close to buying a stake in Liverpool – and wants to snap up as much as 50 per cent of the club.
Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah is ready to pay up to £350m for half of the Premier League giants, he said yesterday. Prince Faisal, who chairs sports investment firm F6 and a holding company called Fama Group, was at Anfield on Saturday to see the Reds beat Hull 6-1.
“We are currently seeking to buy 50 percent of the shares in the club which is now suffering of debts worth £245m,” he told Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh.
“The transaction, upon which a decision is close to being reached, will be worth £200m to £350m.”
Liverpool’s American co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who each own half of the club, are thought to be seeking investors. They bought Liverpool in February 2007 for £220m but relations between them have since soured and plans for a new stadium have been shelved.
Prince Faisal, who has also signed a deal to set up Reds academies in the Middle East, was reportedly at the Hull game as a guest of Gillett.
If he buys a stake, Prince Faisal would be the latest Middle Eastern investor in England’s top flight.
Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, bought Manchester City in August 2008. And businessman Sulaiman Al Fahim, who helped broker the City deal, this year became Portsmouth chairman.