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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner breaks silence with update on FSG sale

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has confirmed Fenway Sports Group are looking at a sale of the club but says "there's no urgency" around concluding a negotiation.

Earlier this month, the American group released a statement confirming they were open to further external investment and the Reds' owners have also instructed two major US banks in Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to explore how much appetite there is for an outright change of hands at Anfield.

FSG bought the club in 2010 for a knockdown price of £300m after Tom Hicks and George Gillett had driven it to the brink of administration and 12 years on, influential American finance publication Forbes value Liverpool at somewhere between £3.6billion and £3.9bn.

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Werner confirmed FSG are open to an outright sale of Liverpool but says there is no rush to offload an asset that is worth well more than 10 times what they paid for it in October 2010.

”We’re exploring a sale, but there’s no urgency, no time frame for us, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s business as usual,” Werner is quoted as saying in the Boston Globe. “One outcome could be our continued stewardship for quite a while.”

It's understood that FSG president Mike Gordon, who is the most hands-on member of the American outfit at Anfield, has taken a step back from his day-to-day duties with the Reds to focus more on the external interest in the club. As a result, CEO Billy Hogan has taken on further responsibility while the process remains ongoing.

Earlier this week, Sam Kennedy, an FSG partner who is also CEO of the Boston Red Sox, said there had been plenty of interest from external parties since it became known the Boston-based group were open to selling Liverpool FC.

“There has been a lot of interest from numerous potential partners considering investment into the club,” said Kennedy. “It is early days in terms of exploring possibilities for possible investment into Liverpool.

“Mike Gordon has done an extraordinary job of leading the club for the past decade-plus. He will be taking a step back from that role and Billy Hogan will be taking on more and more. Billy’s someone we’re particularly proud of in the Red Sox front office, he grew up in our organisation.”

“Great companies grow by adding value to their business,” added Kennedy. “One way to increase that value from time to time is to sell assets or add investors. Does that mean FSG is going to sell Liverpool? I do not know.

"It’s John Henry’s, Tom Werner’s and Mike Gordon’s job to responsibly run Fenway Sports Group and they felt this was an ideal time to explore possible opportunities for investment into the club.”

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