Hicks raised the funds to buy Liverpool

English Liverpool was a whirl of activity as Tom Hicks raised the funds to buy out fellow owner George Gillett but, at the same time, Dubai International Capital made a deadline offer for the two to sell.

DIC has offered GBP 400 million and set a midnight March 4 deadline. Hicks has valued the club at GBP 500 million. A DIC offer that would wipe out the Gillett-Hicks debt and give the two GBP 25 million profit is on the table.

DIC has been sure that Gillett would sell if offered, but Hicks has the first option to buy out his fellow owner.

That appears what Hicks is trying to do. He has been angling for Gillett's 50-percent stake, and the recent falling out between the two has only increased that.

DIC officials have been skeptical that Hicks has the funds to take over Gillett's shares, but that is what it appears the owner of the Major League Baseball Texas Rangers and National Hockey League Dallas Stars has done.

Hicks has made it apparent he will block any attempt by Gillett to sell solely to DIC.

Club fans and officials have come to view Hicks as a wildcard, someone who cannot be trusted with day to day operations of the club. But he and Gillett swayed officials to sell their shares to them last year, and not DIC.

"It took me two weeks to get over that," DIC chief executive Sameer al-Ansari told the Telegraph. "But it didn't dent my passion. I still go to every match when I'm here."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.