Liverpool Football Club chairman Tom Werner has denied reports that Fenway Sports Group has rejected a £1.5 billion offer from Dubai-based financier Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners.
Responding to a report in a local UAE newspaper that the offer, which would start with an initial £1.2 billion ($1.58 billion) in cash, rising to £1.5 billion if the team performed well in the Champions League, was “killed in the 11th hour”, Werners told the Liverpool Echo that there was “no truth” that the club had been involved in year-long talks with Staveley.
“We have better things to do than batting down rumours about negotiations with Ms Staveley,” he said. “However, there’s no truth to them.”
In 2007, Staveley was involved in an attempt by Dubai investors to purchase Liverpool, before it was instead sold to Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillet.
Fenway Sports Group, which purchased Liverpool for £300 million ($393 million) in 2010, say they remain committed to the club in the long-term and are not interested in any sale.
Speculation has been swirling about a move by Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners into Premier League football, with UK media reporting that the investment vehicle is in talks to purchase Newcastle United from current owner Mike Ashley, for a figure believed to be approximately £300 million ($393 million).
In June, Staveley told Arab News that she considered English football to be “an attractive investment”, but declined to say which clubs her clients were considering investing in.
In 2008, Staveley played a crucial role in the high-profile sale of Manchester City to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
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