A Liverpool supporter expresses his frustration in the stands at the club's home ground, Anfield.
Fans of the Liverpool Football Club, a British soccer team owned by veteran buyout investor Thomas O. Hicks and his partner George Gillett Jr., are preparing to score a buyout of their own.
Fans are, either individually or in pools, purchasing shares — at the price of £5,000 ($10,000) each — in the team, known as the Reds. The game plan is to amass £500 million from 100,000 Reds fans to buy the team and build a new stadium. Just days after a website, shareliverpoolfc.co.uk, was launched to facilitate the fundraising, some 12,000 fans e-mailed their interest in buying shares. (The website crashed shortly after it was opened because of the number of people trying to access it.)
According to the website, the fan-owned soccer team would be run by a board elected by the share owners, and the ownership structure would include “predator protection” to prevent hostile takeovers.
Fans blame Messrs. Hicks and Gillett for a less than stellar season and also are concerned that ticket prices will balloon to pay off the loans used to buy the team — as happened after U.S. investors bought rival Manchester United. Fans fear Liverpool's $682 million in loans will be paid off the same way.
Mr. Hicks — founder and former partner of private equity firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst — nows runs Hicks Holdings LLC, Dallas. So, would he entertain a sale if the fans raise the money? A spokesman for Mr. Hicks who declined to be identified refused to comment. But he did manage a defensive play: “Hicks Holdings is a family office, not an investment firm, so I'm not sure why P&I would be interested in anything he does or thinks.”
