Hicks stops the sale in the 11th hour

Posted by

Just when we thought we got rid of him the Texan came up with an injunction from a Texas court. Here is the official statement below.

The owners of Liverpool Football Club today reported that a Texas State District Court has granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Board of Liverpool Football Club (LFC) from executing a sale of the Club to New England Sports Ventures (NESV). The court set a hearing date of October 25, 2010.

The TRO request, signed by Judge Jim Jordan of the 160th District Court in Dallas, was part of a lawsuit filed today by the owners of LFC against Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow, Ian Ayre, NESV and Philip Nash. The lawsuit also seeks temporary and permanent injunctions, and damages totaling approximately $1.6 billion (over £1 billion).

The suit lays out the defendants’ “epic swindle” in which they conspired to devise and execute a scheme to sell LFC to NESV at a price they know to be hundreds of millions of dollars below true market value (and well below Forbes magazine’s recent independent $822 million valuation of the club) – and below multiple expressions of interest and offers to buy either the club in its entirety or make minority investments (including Meriton and Mill Financial). It describes how the defendants excluded the owners from meetings, discussions and communications regarding the potential sale to NESV and interfered with efforts by the owners to obtain financing for Liverpool FC.

The Club’s owners are represented by attorneys from the international law firm of Fish & Richardson.

The following are some of the key points in the complaint, which details the roles of RBS and the other defendants, and also describes previously undisclosed offers to purchase LFC:

“The Director Defendants were acting merely as pawns of RBS, wholly abdicating the fiduciary responsibilities that they owed in the sale.”

“RBS has been complicit in this scheme with the Director Defendants. For example, in letters from RBS to potential investors obtained just within the past few days, RBS has informed investors that it will approve of a deal only if there is “no economic return to equity” for Messrs. Hicks and Gillett. In furtherance of this grand conspiracy, on information and belief, RBS has improperly used its influence as the club’s creditor and as a worldwide banking leader to prevent any transaction that would permit Messrs. Hicks and Gillett to recover any of their initial investment in the club, much less share in the substantial appreciation in the value of Liverpool FC that their investments have created.”

“On or about October 4, 2010, Mr. Hicks received a letter of interest from a third potential purchaser represented by FBR Capital Markets (“FBR”), offering to purchase Liverpool FC for £375 to £400 million ($595 to $635 million). The letter informed Mr. Hicks that the potential purchaser would not need financing, possessed the funds to close the transaction, and intended to build a new stadium for Liverpool FC.”

“Additionally, the Plaintiffs learned just days ago about another potential investor that made a similar offer in the £350 to £400 million range that was communicated to Defendant Broughton and another unnamed co-conspirator in late August. According to this investor, Mr. Broughton never responded to the offer. Moreover, when the purported sale to NESV was announced, this investor again contacted Mr. Broughton and informed him that the offer, which significantly exceeded the NESV offer, was still on the table. Again, Mr. Broughton brushed this offer aside without further discussion.”

49 Comments

  1. I F*CKING HATE HICKS!
    Why is he doing this? Why does he make thousands of people angry?
    These two Yanks are the biggest idiots I’ve ever seen in my entire live!

  2. He’s doing this because he’s out £140m if he doesn’t… what an unspeakable a**hole.

    YOU DESERVE NOTHING IN RETURN TOM HICKS.

  3. He does it because hes trying to get ine statement of all his lies to come true. The one wen he said “lfc will be the most profitable investment i ever made”

  4. “Texan courts don’t even have jurisdiction over happenings in other states,” says Jonathan Kaszynski. “This injunction is a vindictive act, hoping to cause the board and supporters of Liverpool Football Club as much trouble as possible. This has no chance in hell of seeing the light of day in court.”

    From The Guardian, 1 minute ago

  5. we all knew they wouldn’t take this lying down but 1.6 billion in compo,only dumbass yanks would carry on like this.there are only 2 co-conspirators in this sorry affair and its hicks and gillet trying to ruin our great club

  6. Does this have any sway in Britain? Surely the court today ruled that MB acted lawfully in agreeing the sale to NESV and so there is bugger all TH can do about it.

  7. How the hell is this even legal? He failed to pay his bills, and now he’s complaining about not making a profit on the sale? WTF!?

  8. Regrettably, Spirit of Shankly boot boys with their aggressive campaign have cheesed him off so much that he doesn’t care if we go into admonistration, get relegated etc etc – he just wants damages if he can get them.

  9. This is a Texas State Court.

    I don’t know what jurisdiction they are claiming but as I understand it the Texas long-arm jurisdiction has been very much restricted in the last decade or so.

    RBS can do nothing to prevent the sale so it’s back to the LFC Board and more advice from Tony Grabiner.

  10. M8 as i am familiar with the law or the basics of it liverpool is in england. so how can someone sue someone in the states for something that is not in the states.

    as far as i care i can sue germany for 100000000 $ because i live in macedonia :D. and they have better economy

    this doesnt makes sense.

  11. I don’t think a Texas District Court has jurisdiction in this matter. To me, Hicks is playing a game of brinkmanship, hoping to secure some cash from NESV. Probably doomed to failure, but it shows that he has no source of refinancing his loans to RBS.

  12. I really can’t believe that this ruling can uphold in the sale of an entity outside of the US. Unless the fact that Mr. Henry is from the US makes this ruling active for a sale to him. Maybe they can reach an agreement with one of the other possible investors. I don’t really know what im talking about though, and I am ridiculously confused now.

    I thought it was all over, and being an American I am more embarrassed to live here than I ever have been.

  13. It’s a final throw of the dice for two very sad yanks!! They have set a hearing for the 25th October, which says it all really as they will default on this Fridays payment deadline, so come Friday when the deadline has passed the RBS reposess the club and sell to NESV!! So what are you going to do Friday Hicks when the club is taken from you?

    For GODS sake go with some dignity!!!

  14. This is a joke, right? I can’t believe this. They are trying to destroy the club as a last act of vengeance for all of the (deserving) animosity directed at them. I’m a little surprised that a district court can place this TRO on the club.

    We all knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, right?

  15. So an investor should just go and buy a fooball club with intention of spending ,spending and more spending without a return..Just because the name of the club is Liverpool, everyone should back the fans and support a corrupt lawyer blatantly acted in an indignified way and possibly took hefty amounts of back handers from RBS and NESV…From what i can clearly see Liverpool owners are prepared to sell as long as the correct value of the LFC is the subject of transaction not a pawn in NESV buying it on the cheap and eventually selling it on to someone else. Blame Mr Broughton the dodgy lawyer not the owners.

  16. Almost cried reading this :/
    Just when you breathe a sigh of relief and think it’s all over!

    Agree With Jason … I hate that Pr*ck!
    What A Bas***d he is!!!

    Sorry for the language but I just can’t help myself!

  17. Seriously what is going on? I realise they are doing this because they want more money but how does putting us into administration make the club any more valuable? If we finish 12-15 in the league the club will be lucky to be worth £200 mil. Just CLEAR OFF, accept you have lost. Leave our club alone. This is painful.

    Does this court have authority over the court in london? Why would it?

    Confused, angry, very very angry.

    Mark

    Keep us updated Antoine.

  18. Is there anyone with a legal background that can tell me how a US court ruling can effect a foreign company outside of US court’s jurisdiction? This is absurd.

  19. This is selfish and despicable by Hicks and Gillet. Just the fact that they’re claiming $1.6billion in damages is laughable. They should be embarrassed by such a pathetic and juvenile maneuver. If they’ve done anything it’s soil their own name and detract value from the Club. I cant imagine a scenario where this would hold up in court

  20. calm down everyone, he is trying to delay the process but I dont think he can stop it. i know the deadline for debt is this friday however the RBS would not put the club into adminstration

  21. One issue at hand could be that the actual parent company, in the twisted scheme of holding companies that these twisted men have devised, is technically an entity of the State of Delaware, which could give a US court some degree of jurisdiction. Although I dont know why Texas…

  22. Do you know what, i’d take a 9 pt deduction right now just to get rid of these sh*t heads. This season is already gone down the pan for us.

  23. Apparently Liverpools holding company is registered in texas! That seems to be why he can do it.. What a cunt

  24. It probably has something to do with the holding companies. However, a Texas District Court is not a federal court, and as previously said cannot affect something going on in Delaware.

    I don’t think is going to last. The British courts can probably just ignore it, and the American courts don’t have authority over what is happening in the UK.

    I hope Hicks dies. He is a greedy bastard who has ruined our club and embarrassed my country.

  25. Why won’t RBS put the club into administration on Friday, Mo? There is no chance they will play their debts by then so surely we will be in adminstration.

    I think its the only way out of this now.

  26. Iver Biggen – Are you seriously taking Hicks and Gillette’s side on this? The two owners who have swore that they have made the team better since taking over. The two owners that have riddled the club with debt. The two owners that were shown pulling thousands of euros and dollars out of their wallets when asked how they will pay for a new park, but then never did anything they ever promised. I can’t blame Martin Broughton for trying to sell to NESV. He definitely knows more about them then we do, and believes they are the right owners to take the club forward into a hopefully bright future.

  27. a district court of the United States could have jurisdiction in this case. there are people posting saying this is a state court, but that is incorrect. This is a federal district court and they do have original jurisdiction in disputes between US citizens and foreigners. However, Tom Hicks has to prove that LFC has a connection to Texas. To put it another way, Hicks has to prove that Texas has personal jurisdiction over LFC. Anyone interested further can read the opinion in Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall.

  28. i just want to note that i think tom hicks will fail, though it might have to go through the appellate process first. the damage would be long done by then. cross your fingers.

  29. Here is what we should do:

    Let’s pool our money to bribe the Italian Police. We then get a plane full of Serb hooligans from the abandoned match in Genoa last night and fly them to Texas, and drop them off by their houses. What could go wrong?

  30. I’m currently a law student at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I’m only a first year so I can’t be completely sure about how this should turn out but I do know a few things based on my study so far.

    It is almost without a doubt that the Texas court should be able to have jurisdiction over NESV based on what they call a “Minimum Contacts” test, which is basically a litmus test to see whether or not a given entity has established contacts with a forum state which would allow that state to have jurisdiction over the defendant. In this case, it is probably true that NESV would have taken advantage of the rights and privileges of Texas laws and infrastructure based on its other sports teams and general sports involvement. The question becomes a little more convoluted when you look at Broughton and the rest of the Board. It is probably not the case that they have jurisdiction over them specifically but most likely a good lawyer could show that they represent Liverpool Football Club and RBS’s interests. However, a creditor has sufficient interest in collecting debts owed to them so I think the real rub here is deciding the issue on the “fair market value” of Liverpool FC, which seems to me to be the Messrs. main complaint. This might even involve an official appraisal of the club’s networth which could take a little while to sort out.

    Also, I’m not really clear on the effect of the High Court’s decision on the injunction and pending Texas-lawsuit. Their ruling clearly favors Broughton and NESV but it might not matter inside a US court.

    I’ll post more information as I run across it. I plan on talking with some of my peers and professors in class tomorrow and will hopefully be able to provide more insight at a later time.

    Long story short, this could drag on for a long, long while. In the meantime, we just have to wait and see. These things can get very complicated.

    YNWA

  31. Ian, this is a state court. There are not 160 federal districts in Texas. The Texas trial courts are called district courts.

    Federal judges are appointed. State judges are elected. He ran unopposed in the spring of 2010.

  32. Just to update everyone;

    Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd is a company registered in England – Co. Reg. 06032200. However, the ultimate parent/holding company in the group is Kop Investment LLC registered in, you guessed it, the good old US of A. So it looks as though this pathetic attempt at dragging his heels may hold some stead.

    I am extremely disappointed by this. But, in all truth, it could work out for the best as the bids for the club continue to roll in. Mr Lim is my personal fave, promising cash for players plus wiping out the club debt.

  33. Hope the sale to John Henry does not go through. He will plunder LFC’s cash rich revenue streams to pay for the loan HE WILL RAISE against the Boston Red Sox. Broughton’s activities smack of a “sweetheart deal” with Henry, and I reckon that Lim would be a better bet.

  34. I’m sorry but how can you trust a potential owner that has shared interests with you bitterest rivals? Man utd theme pubs. Howabout EFC wine bars too? It’s not all about the money here. Stability and safe ownership is the priority here.

  35. Just when you thought we’ve got rid of them they linger still like a bad smell, but according to Broughton and NESV the deal should be completed by tomorrow and they are confident of this.

    This is the day ‘Jaimie Kanwar’ from liverpool-kop.com crawled out of his hole, since NESV announced their interest and deal hes been quiet and soon as Hicks and Gillett show sme fight to cling on he crawles out aswell……YNWA

Comments are closed