General Electric Creates Unit For Premier League Takeovers

Hicks Calls Teams Multigenerational Assets To Be Inherited By Children

General Electric has “set up a sports financing unit dedicated to the European sports market” as a response to recent takeover activity of Premier League teams, according to Roger Blitz of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The unit, part of GE’s US$230B commercial finance division, “will target Premier League deals and club refinancing packages, and wants to be involved in other sports, such as motor racing.” GE is teaming with London-based Hermes Sports Partners on the venture. In ’05, GE invested US$39.65M in the Glazer family’s US$1.6B takeover of Manchester United (FT.com, 5/13).

NOT FOR SALE: In London, Charles Carrick writes the Glazers have “warned off any potential suitors” for ManU by confirming the team is not for sale. Reports had surfaced that a Chinese group was offering US$1.68B for the team, but sources close to the Glazers said that “no one has approached them” about a sale (London TELEGRAPH, 5/14).

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Rangers and Stars Owner and Premier League club Liverpool co-Owner Tom Hicks at a Ft. Worth Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday said that his sports teams “are ‘not toys of the owner’ but a multigenerational asset that he plans to pass on to his six children.” Hicks admitted he “knew nothing about soccer” before buying Liverpool, but he added, “I knew nothing about hockey when we bought the Stars, and we won the Stanley Cup.” He said Liverpool is “one of the two or three greatest brands in the world alongside Manchester United” (STAR-TELEGRAM, 5/12).