While Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester Citeh appear to be unaffected by the economic crisis and are connected to just about everybody under the sun as possible transfers, other clubs have not been so lucky. Valencia and Liverpool, two clubs who are no stranger to financial controversy lately suffered another round of finanical embarrassments.
Valencia's well-documented financial struggles have claimed its president, Vicente Soriano. The President had been attempting to sell the land under the Mestalla Stadium to help finance the club's move to a new stadium. This will do nothing but stoke the transfer rumors regarding David Villa, David Silva, and Raul Albiol. Villa has been linked to Real, Chelsea, Citeh, Barcelona and comically, Liverpool. Silva and Albiol have been linked to more clubs because their transfer costs will be significantly less than Villa.
I say comically in regards to Liverpool, because it turns out the holding company of LFC has posted losses of £42m . Predictably, the British rags are claiming imminent financial doom for the Kop and the club sources are playing it cool. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Hicks and Gillett have been attempting to refinance the £350m debt they hoisted on the club in its acquistion for some time having received a six-month extension earlier this year that expires in July.
Hicks has been attempting to sell some of his other sports interests and even defaulted on a loan payment for those interests in what is claimed to be a strategic decision. Indian and Middle Eastern interests have been linked to purchasing either the entire club or a portion thereof. Who knows if it will happen, but Reds fans would welcome either so long as it stabilizes the situation.
All of this turmoil certainly will not help Rafa Benitez's transfer policies. Rafa probably doesn't have much kitty at this point to acquire his targets and will need to sell assets to get what he wants. The same situation as last summer which caused the transfer sagas to draw out for the entire summer. Not a situation any party wants to recreate as it adds to stress and hampers the negotiation power of the club.
So, all in all, it is more of the same. Expect rumors of Valencia player transfers to fly all summer as the club tries to wring every last dollar out of them and Liverpool to struggle to complete transfers. Also, expect lots of clubs to be linked to acquiring Liverpool players because of the financial issues.
Fun times.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hey Look, Financial Difficulties
Friday, December 5, 2008
I Smell A Sit-Com Premise
View Larger Map
"Hey Tom, want to come over for dinner?"
"Sure George. We can reminisce about the time I made you millions when I bought your baseball team at a premium after you raked taxpayers to build you a new stadium."
"Great, when you're done, I can tell you stories about how I broke the entire fucking world. Yeah, the world. I fucked the whole thing up. Pretty awesome when you think about it."
Okay, that's an artists rendering of the conversation with a bit of artistic license, but it might not be too far off as Tom Hicks, the über-popular (and possibly soon-to-be former) owner of Liverpool F.C. (as well as the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers) is getting a new neighbor. It's the über-popular and certainly soon-to-be former President of the United States.
According to the Smoking Gun, W. bought new $2.07 million digs in Dallas. While the Bush [1.13 acre] property certainly appears comfortable, it is dwarfed by the 20-acre estate it abuts. That sprawling property (seen here) is owned by billionaire investor Tom Hicks, who, in 1998, purchased the Texas Rangers from a partnership in which Bush held a stake (the deal netted the future president about $15 million). Hicks, 62, was a leading supporter of Rudolph Giuliani's presidential bid and hosted a fundraiser last year at his home--reportedly the largest in Dallas--for the former New York City mayor.
The linked pics show each house, the Google pic has them both in one view so you can get the full scope of how much more Hicks is compensating for his anatomical inadequacies. That's Hicks under the center mark in the middle with W slightly upper left of that.
Anyway, they're clearly not building and burning down love in this hood. But if you grab the street names (the Google tells me "Daria Pl.") you're probably still going to need the Flowers By Irene van if you want to avoid the guys in the black Continentals trailing you as you wind around the cul-de-sac.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Finally, Some Good Financial News Regarding Hicks and Gillett
Just kidding.
Anyway, Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has a $75M payment due in January. This bit of debt is particularly interesting because Gillett apparently secured it by putting up his 50% of Liverpool as collateral. So that means if he defaults on the loan, the folks holding it could conceivably assume Gillett's share of Liverpool F.C.
Gillett borrowed the money from a group called Mill Financial on January 25, 2008. Mill Financial is a unit of Springfield Financial Co., which is based in Virginia. To secure the loan, Delaware-incorporated Gillett Football LLC, pledged all of its "right, title and interest in Football Investments LLC," lien documents filed in Delaware show. Football Investments LLC is the company through which Gillett owns his 50% stake in Liverpool F.C. (the other half of the club is owned by Tom Hicks).
From the Sports Business Journal:The duo originally borrowed about 280 million pounds (currently $429 million) from Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia to finance their acquisition... Hicks and Gillett had expected to refinance easily, but the credit markets soured in the summer of 2007. A hoped-for refinancing proved arduous, and the lenders required the duo earlier this year to put in about $150 million of equity they were not envisioning. That means there is at least $575 million of debt directly tied to Liverpool.
Springfield is selling the debt and say a transaction will be completed this month (December). According to the SBJ article, there are at least two groups trying to purchase the debt. One is Gillett himself with some additional investors. The other is a separate group with "eye on seeking control of Gillett’s Liverpool interest."
Basically, if the non-Gillett folks purchase the debt and Gillett doesn't have the funds to cover the money due, they could assume his half of Liverpool. If Gillett fails to purchase the note, then he does have the option of simply paying it off when it's due (Jan 25, 2009), assuming he can come up with the cash. But if you're Gillett, you're probably looking at paying a premium on your own debt to compete with the other group, and if you are bringing other investors in to do that, that's a sign that you don't have the $75M.
Anyway, there is more in the Globe and Mail here and on soccernet here. The Globe and Mail story is worth the read because it's written from the standpoint of what the impact might be on Gillett's ownership of the Montreal Canadiens, so it has a wider scope on Gillett's sports business operations. The soccernet page is worth a click because, above the Gillett piece, is a story about beer.
Posts
