Former Chelsea Chief Kenyon Is Said to Be Hired by QSL in Liverpool Bid
Former Chelsea and Manchester United Chief Executive Officer Peter Kenyon is negotiating for QSL Sports Ltd. in its effort to buy 18-time English soccer champion Liverpool, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Kenyon, whose teams won five league titles with him in charge, has been in talks with Liverpool Chairman Martin Broughton and Barclays Capital, after they were hired by Liverpool co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to sell the club in April.
Kenyon, 56, wouldn’t have a seat on Liverpool’s board if Hong Kong-based QSL bought the team, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the talks. Kenyon was named CEO at Manchester United in 2000, then joined Chelsea following billionaire Roman Abramovich’s 2003 takeover. He left the West London club last year.
Hill & Knowlton, a public relations company hired by QSL co-founder Kenny Huang, declined to comment. Liverpool spokesman Ian Cotton said the club doesn’t comment on the sales process.
Hicks and Gillett bought the club in February 2007 for 219 million pounds, including debt, or $431.7 million at the exchange rate then. The team’s parent company, Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd., now had has debts of 351 million pounds ($549 million. Prospective investors must prove they’ll pay off the current owners’ 237 million-pound debt with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, fund a new stadium and pay for squad development.
RBS Debt
The RBS debt matures Oct. 6. If the club isn’t sold by then and the owners can’t get an extension, the U.K. government- controlled bank could take over Liverpool.
QSL is among as many as four bidders for the club, including Syrian Yahya Kirdi, who lives in Canada.
Liverpool’s board said in an Aug. 13 statement it was reviewing a number of bids and would take its time before recommending one.
“The board will continue to act in the best interests of Liverpool Football Club and its supporters, doing all that it can to ensure that the club is ultimately sold to a buyer who has the resources and real commitment to give it a long term, stable and secure funding position,†the board said in a statement.
The people said Kenyon, now a director at management company Creative Artists Agency, has been involved in the talks for months and was hired because of his experience in English soccer. He is charged with determining the feasibility of a bid and to understand the financial structure of Hicks and Gillett’s investment in Liverpool.
From Bloomsberg