Source: Liverpool_Echo
Investment firm Rhone Group make offer to cut Liverpool FC's debts
Tom Hicks and George Gillett have been offered a way of relieving the financial pressure at Liverpool after global investment firm the Rhone Group made a £100million-plus offer for a 40% stake in the club.[LNB]Liverpool's co-owners have been looking for an injection of cash to help reduce the current level of debt leveraged on the club.[LNB]When they successfully renegotiated the terms of their loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland last summer one requirement was that they had to cut £100million off the £237million debt.[LNB]Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow set a deadline of Easter to have secured new finance.[LNB]After much speculation over the source of potential investors, it is understood the submission from the Rhone Group is the first genuine offer to be received.[LNB]If the offer is accepted by Hicks and Gillett it would considerably strengthen the club's financial position.[LNB]The people behind the Rhone Group bid have been keen to stress that the offer comes in the form of fresh money - not borrowed - which would immediately be used to slash Liverpool's debt by nearly half.[LNB]That would have the effect of immediately making the Merseysiders a more attractive option for outside investment.[LNB]It would also dramatically reduce the £30million a year interest payments to service the debt and improve the club's appeal to lenders, which could, in turn, lead to cash being secured to finally begin work on the long-awaited new stadium in Stanley Park.
