Liverpool are the target of an £800m takeover bid backed by the Chinese government that has the potential to make them the richest club in the Premier League. China Everbright, a state-backed financial giant, is spearheading the attempt to buy the Anfield club from current owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) but the bulk of the money is expected to come from the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s main sovereign wealth fund, whose assets are put at about £620bn.
Should the bid succeed it would give Liverpool backers with a financial clout exceeding even that of Manchester City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, and open the possibility of transfer spending to match City and Manchester United. One well-placed source cautioned, however, that there is still plenty work to be done to finalise any deal.
Involved with the Chinese bid is Amanda Staveley, the leading City dealmaker who helped broker Sheikh Mansour’s £210m purchase of Manchester City in 2008.
It is understood talks with representatives for FSG and the Chinese group are ongoing and that under the current plan Liverpool would be taken over by a new ownership group of which Everbright, potentially Staveley herself, and John Henry, Liverpool’s current principal owner, would be part.
Henry may even retain a majority stake, with the Chinese becoming minority partners. With financial terms being thrashed out, talks could extend into September. It is far from the first time Liverpool have been targeted by Chinese investors.
In July, a flamboyant Chinese trader and art collector, Liu Yiqian, made an unsuccessful approach to FSG. Then, FSG’s stance was that they did not want to sell and that having tied Jurgen Klopp to a new six-year contract and revamped Anfield, increasing the stadium’s capacity to 54,000, they were merely at the start of unlocking Liverpool’s potential.
On Friday, Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman and second most important shareholder after Henry, said the club was “not for sale” though he admitted that FSG are open to the idea of selling a stake.
Having bought Liverpool for £300m in 2010, FSG have invested significantly in players yet found themselves unable to get near to matching the fees and wages being offered by the Manchester clubs, Chelsea and some of Europe’s giants — and, indeed, they lost out on a main transfer target to China when Jiangsu Suning gazumped them for the Brazilian Alex Teixeira in January.
While Manchester United broke the world transfer record for Paul Pogba this summer and Manchester City exceded even United’s spending with a flurry of transfers worth about £152m, Klopp has been balancing his books.
Liverpool spent £30m on Sadio Mane and £23m on Georginio Wijnaldum but recouped most of the club’s total summer outlay through the transfers of Joe Allen, Jordon Ibe and Christian Benteke. Although Anfield’s expansion will net the club an extra £25m per season, it seems unlikely that would be enough to allow Klopp to be able to compete for players with his main Premier League rivals without his club receiving major fresh investment.
