Liverpool Bidder Kirdi Won't Pay `One Pound More' Than Club's Market Value
A club emblem is displayed on the gates to Anfield, Liverpool Football Club's stadium, in Liverpool. Photographer: Frantzesco Kangaris/Bloomberg
British Airways Plc Chairman Martin Broughton
Charles Crowell/Bloomberg
Liverpool appointed British Airways Plc Chairman Martin Broughton, seen here, as chairman in April with the task of finding a new owner.
Liverpool appointed British Airways Plc Chairman Martin Broughton, seen here, as chairman in April with the task of finding a new owner. Photographer: Charles Crowell/Bloomberg
Yahya Kirdi said he’s not a “cowboy” and won’t pay “one pound more” than the market value of 18-time English soccer champion Liverpool.
The Premier League team has rejected two of his bids after being put up for sale by its American owners in April, Kirdi said yesterday in a phone interview. U.K. media have reported that the offer of the Canada-based Syrian’s group is higher than those of other possible bidders and is being used by owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett to bid up the price.
“I can’t pay one pound more than value of Liverpool,” Kirdi said by phone from his Montreal home. “I’m not crazy.”
Reports that he valued the team at 600 million pounds ($951 million) are “not true,” he added. He declined to say what he’d offered, and said his last bid was rejected in April. Liverpool spokesman Ian Cotton said the club doesn’t comment on the sales process.
Liverpool, whose parent company has debts of 351 million pounds, is asking potential bidders to prove they have funds for the purchase before the club’s board meets tomorrow, two people familiar with the negotiations said Aug. 9. They said most expressions of interest they’d received valued the team at about 350 million pounds.
Kirdi said he’s backed by “big names” from the Mideast and Canada who wanted to remain anonymous until his offer was accepted.
Buyer Search
Liverpool appointed British Airways Plc Chairman Martin Broughton as chairman in April with the task of finding a new owner, while Barclays Capital was chosen as adviser on the sale.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong businessman Kenny Huang became the first to publicly state his interest in the team through his company, QSL Sports Ltd. Kirdi declared his interest in the five-time European champion a day later, Aug. 4. Rhone Group LLC and Kuwaiti businessman Rafed Al Kharafi have also been linked with a possible deal.
Kirdi said he didn’t know why his bids weren’t accepted but had confidence Broughton would come around. Most of his negotiations have been carried out with Gillett, he said.
“I trust Martin Broughton and he’ll decide who’s good for Liverpool,” Kirdi said. He added that he and Broughton met in a London hotel three months ago with Gillett, whom he described as a friend.
Kirdi said he speaks every day with Gillett. Jonathon Brill, a spokesman for the owners, declined to comment.
‘Good for the Club’
While a deal may be agreed soon it would take much longer for a sale to be completed, said Kirdi, a 44-year-old former soccer player.
“I want at least two months, two months to see everything,” he said. “After that if everything is OK it’s a deal. If not, ‘thank you very much.’”
Kirdi said he wouldn’t be “a cancer who takes money out of Liverpool.”
“I’ve liked them since I was young,” he said. “It’s not important for me that I’m the owner of Liverpool. Whoever takes Liverpool must do good for the club.”
Prospective buyers must prove they’ll pay off the current owners’ 237 million-pound debt with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, fund a new stadium and pay for the development of the squad before they’ll be approved, the two people familiar with situation said.
The RBS debt matures Oct. 6. If the club isn’t sold by then and the owners can’t get an extension, the U.K. government- controlled bank could take over Liverpool. The latest refinancing deal agreed in April is costing Gillett and Hicks 2.5 million pounds a week, the News of the World reported three days ago.
Piers Townsend, a spokesman for RBS, declined to comment.
Fans’ Skepticism
Kirdi said he hopes to come to the U.K. on Aug. 13 and attend the team’s first Premier League game of the season against Arsenal two days later.
Liverpool supporters have expressed skepticism that Kirdi and his group have the funds to buy the team, which is one of soccer’s most popular with fan groups from New York to Bangkok. A supporter-run website, Anfield Road, reported that until 2008 Kirdi owned pizza outlets in Quebec.
“I’m very serious,” Kirdi said. “There are big names with me, big companies. When the deal is done you’ll know everybody but they want to be private now.”
He gave his backing to new manager Roy Hodgson, saying he was a better choice to lead the team than previous coach Rafael Benitez, who quit in June after the team finished seventh, its worst league position in 11 years.
“Rafael didn’t do anything good for Liverpool,” Kirdi said. “Hodgson is very good for Liverpool because he’s not some kind of dictator.”
Liverpool hasn’t won a trophy since the F.A. Cup in 2006. It won the Champions League a year earlier, at the end of Benitez’s first season.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tariq Panja in London at at tpanja@bloomberg.net
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