Fenway Sports Group are open to the idea of selling Liverpool.
While parting company with the Reds - the most valuable property in their £10bn empire - may have always been an option for anyone willing to pay crazy sums, the stance of FSG in their statement to the media on Monday suggested that they may be a little closer to that scenario than previously thought.
The Boston Globe, a newspaper owned independently by FSG chief and Liverpool principal owner John Henry, cited sources that claimed the engagement of major banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley was ascertain whether it could, or should, seek new minority investors or whether it should make a clean break and sell the £3.6bn valued team for a 1,100 per cent profit on the £300m that the firm paid for it back in 2010.
In reality, given the value of the Chelsea sale, where a £2.5bn price tag was paid and a commitment made to a further £1.75bn to go towards infrastructure, Liverpool's owners will be looking for well north of £4bn for the club if they were to sell.
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Sums like that mean the potential pool of suitors is small, and with the Reds having to also face a moral dilemma over just who takes over the reins at the club, they will need to be selective.
As the boom in Chinese football waned and the huge sums of money drifted out of China's domestic league, so, too, the interest in acquiring Premier League clubs diminished from the region.
What has filled that vacuum is the rise in US investors wanting to get a slice of the action in European football, particularly in the Premier League, with American billionaires and private equity funds believing the Premier League to be significantly under monetised and adamant that valuations will only continue to grow if the Premier League can follow more of the NFL's lead.
Speaking at the Sportico Invest in Sport conference in New York last month, where the ECHO were in attendance, Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali, whose Clearlake Capital private equity fund combined with Todd Boehly and Hansjorg Wyss to acquire the club earlier this year, said: " European football is probably 20 years behind US sports in terms of sophistication on the commercial side and sophistication on the data side.
"Cumulative market cap uses the Forbes value of NFL teams, and that is probably $150bn-$155bn.
"The Premier League, France, La Liga, Serie A, it's about $30bn-$35bn with fan bases of maybe four billion globally compared to maybe 200m, and that's being generous, for the NFL - talk about a league and a sport that is optimised. Clearly a four billion fan base on a cumulative market cap of maybe $30bn and cumulative media revenues of $5bn-$6bn against 20 for the NFL on a 200m fan base. There is a tremendous upside."
So, who could come in for the price that FSG would be willing to part at?
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE
It is difficult to make assumptions on individuals but there is one name that has been heavily linked to both Chelsea and Manchester United this year, that of INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe, 70, is worth around £15bn and already owns two teams; OGC Nice in France and Lausanne Sport in Switzerland. He was in the race for Chelsea before Boehly and Eghbali won through and also claimed to have spoken to the Glazer family over a potential takeover of Manchester United, something that the Glazers weren't open to.
INEOS have grown to become a powerhouse of the chemicals industry, producing everything from synthetic oils and plastics to solvents used to make insulin and antibiotics. Since 2013 Ratcliffe's personal wealth has increased 15-fold.
Ratcliffe and INEOS are keen to invest further in European football, particularly the Premier League and have been targeting a top six side. There is enormous scarcity value that exists for top six clubs in England and in FSG kicking open the door to a possible sale will no doubt pique the interest of the Oldham-born billionaire.
HARRIS BLITZER SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT/SIR MARTIN BROUGHTON
US billionaires David Blitzer and Josh Harris both own 18 per cent of Crystal Palace but were part of the race to acquire Chelsea earlier this year, a move that, if successful, would have seen them divest their interest in Palace due to a conflict of interest.
HBSE own the Philadelphia 76ers NBA team and the New Jersey Devils NHL franchise, and Blitzer, speaking at the same Sportico Invest in Sports conference where Eghbali appeared, revealed that the opportunity presented at Chelsea was a unique one due to the scarcity value, something that could translate into Liverpool interest further down the line.
"I love Crystal Palace, and people who know me well will know I love Crystal Palace," said Blitzer.
"But there are a handful of teams/brands out there on a global basis, and Chelsea is one of them. The opportunity to invest in that particular situation with a very small number of people, frankly, given it was a complicated situation, we were comfortable giving that our best shot.
"We would have had to divest our interest in Crystal Palace had that come through. If that had happened it would have been a really sad day in one sense, but again back to the investment part it would have been a really interesting investment in terms of what's out there for Chelsea."
Harris' wealth stands at around £5bn, with the HBSE interest in Chelsea earlier in the year done alongside a consortium featuring Sir Martin Broughton, former Liverpool chairman and key man in FSG's early days at Anfield, and Lord Sebastian Coe.
THE RICKETTS FAMILY INVESTMENT GROUP
Another to have been in the running for the ownership of Chelsea, the owners of the Chicago Cubs, Tom and Laura Ricketts, both had backing in their bid for the London club from US finance giants Ken Griffin and Dan Gilbert.
The group had previously attempted to acquire the club from former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in 2018 and have an continued interest in acquiring a Premier League team.
The Ricketts family have a net worth of around £5bn.
STEPHEN PAGLIUCA AND PARTNERS
Another Bostonian, Stephen Pagliuca owns both the Boston Celtics NBA team and the Italian Serie A side Atalanta.
He was part of the bidding process for Chelsea after becoming a late entrant and was backed by a number of US heavyweights in his consortia, including Canadian sports magnate Larry Tanenbaum, ex-Disney head Robert Iger, and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
Pagliuca serves as chairman of Bain Capital, a fund that manages over £150bn worth of assets.
He intimated in an interview with the Boston Globe back in August that he may not have been put off the idea of pursuing a Premier League team provided the right price for the right team was available.
"What you learn in this business is worry or remorse doesn’t do anything," he said.
"You’ve just got to wake up the next day and, you know, refocus. I told my partners and investors we would pay a premium but it would be a fiscally responsible premium."
MIDDLE EAST
Liverpool have been linked with interested parties from the Gulf region before, most recently in 2018 when the cousin of Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour, Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan, failed with a £2bn bid for the Reds.
At that time Liverpool were actively seeking investment as well, engaging American firm Allen & Co to seek out interested parties.
It was reported at the time that Midhat Kidwai, managing director of Al Nehayan's conglomerate of companies under the Bin Zayed International umbrella had even gone as far as meeting with Liverpool chairman Tom Werner in New York.
The news of Liverpool's owners being open once more to a sale will stir interest in the MENA region, with the takeovers of clubs such as Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi based City Football Group in 2008 and, more recently, the acquisition of Newcastle United by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund bringing unprecedented spending power into English football.
Potential moral dilemmas do, of course, come with any interest from states or those closely associated with them. The forthcoming World Cup in Qatar has shadow cast over it due to the human rights abuses in the region, while the countries where Newcastle and Manchester City's ownership emanates from have also faced similar allegations in recent years, with claims of their purchases of elite football teams being done as part of reputation laundering.
Keeping pace with the likes of Manchester City and Newcastle is the main challenge for whoever comes in or, indeed, if FSG decide to remain in situ.
NOT IN THE FRAME
RedBird Capital Partners acquired an 11 per cent stake in FSG back in March 2021 for $750m and founder and managing partner, Gerry Cardinale, had told a Financial Times Business of Sport Summit last year that he couldn't rule out owning the Reds in the future.
At that time RedBird's football interests were full ownership of French side Toulouse until they purchased a controlling stake in Italian giants AC Milan for £1.1bn at the start of September.
RedBird have a long-term plan for AC Milan, with a new stadium at the top of the list, and no desire to divest their interest in the Serie A side.
Also erroneously linked has been LeBron James, the billionaire basketball star who owns one per cent of FSG having accreted his two per cent stake he held in Liverpool from 2011 to 2021.
As a partner in FSG, James is being primed to helm an NBA expansion franchise, with FSG hoping to acquire the rights to a team in Las Vegas in the next two years, a project James will likely lead as team owner when the 37-year-old decides to call time on his glittering career.
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