Well done all the boys who posted an email to RBS. You've now made Bloomberg news. Keep up the good work.
Liverpool Sale Needs Time to Get Best Deal, Royal Bank of Scotland Says:
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it wants to ensure 18-time English soccer champion Liverpool is sold to owners with proper funding, saying a delay is in “no one’s interest.”
The bank sent a response to supporters who wrote hundreds of identical e-mails to senior bank executives, including Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester, urging the government- controlled bank to restrict the club’s credit facilities.
Fans have been contacting the bank since March after becoming disillusioned with its American owners George Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks because of the team’s on-field performance and levels of debt. The team’s seventh-place finish in the English league last season was its worst in 11 years, while the team also owes RBS and Wachovia Corp. 237 million pounds ($351 million). Hicks and Gillett put the team up for sale in April.
“This (sale) process needs to be allowed sufficient time to maximize the chances of the club being sold to ownership capable of realizing its long-term potential,” said the e-mail signed by Roger Lowry, the bank’s head of public affairs.
RBS spokesman Piers Townsend confirmed the e-mail is genuine. Jonathon Brill, a spokesman for the owners, wasn’t immediately available to comment.
British Airways Plc Chairman Martin Broughton joined Liverpool in the same role when plans for the sale were announced on April 16. The club also appointed Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Barclays Plc, to advise on the sale. Broughton said in an interview at the time he was hopeful a sale could be completed before the start of the Premier League season in August.
‘Confident’
“We are confident that the chairman and the board will be mindful of the need to avoid any unnecessary delay in concluding a sale, as it is in no one’s interest to risk deterioration in the performance of the club prior to it being sold,” Lowry’s e- mail added.
RBS, which received the biggest banking bailout in the world from the British government, has extended Liverpool’s credit facility to help the owners get fair value for the team and it also caters for the club’s regular banking needs.
Fans have protested against the owners for much of their three-year tenure.
“I appreciate that the club’s finances have been a source of frustration for many supporters but it is in the interest of the fans, the club and the bank that we continue to support it through this process to ensure its longevity for all concerned,” Lowry added.
Liverpool is also looking for a new coach after parting company with Rafael Benitez earlier this month. Under the Spaniard, Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005 and the F.A. Cup a year later. It hasn’t won anything since.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tariq Panja in Johannesburg via the London newsroom at
[email protected]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-21...tland-says.html
