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Filings Show Henry (l), Werner (r) Share
50% Of Voting Rights In Liverpool |
New England Sports Ventures acquired EPL club Liverpool "for a cash payment of less than" $340M (all figures U.S.), according to company filings cited by Paul Kelso of the London TELEGRAPH. The precise figure that the group paid is "contained in a slew of Companies House filings made in the two months since" NESV purchased Liverpool. The filings show that NESV paid just less than $340M "for the equity in the club, effectively the amount" former co-Owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett "owed to principal lender Royal Bank of Scotland." NESV also "assumed responsibility for debts to RBS of around" $130M, "taking the transaction value" to $467M. The company filings and a posting on the club's website also reveal, "somewhat surprisingly," that Liverpool Owner John Henry and Chair Tom Werner "have an equal say in decision making at Anfield, sharing 50% of the voting rights in the company." The filings also reveal that NESV's ownership of Liverpool is held via a new U.K.-registered holding company, U.K. Sports Ventures Holding Company Limited, a subsidiary of NESV. UKSV "has just two directors" -- NESV General Counsel Edward Weiss and NESV Vice Chair David Ginsberg, who also serves on the Liverpool BOD. Beneath UKSV are two companies, Anfield Arena Limited, "established by Hicks and Gillett which appears to be the vehicle for the stadium development," and Liverpool Football Club and Athletics Grounds Limited, the club business. Henry and Werner are both on the LFCAG BOD, and are joined by Ginsberg, Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik and Michael Gordon, who is "understood to be a former colleague of Werner." According to the club, "none of them owns more than 10% of the equity" (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 12/17).
