Liverpool takeover completed

American tycoons George Gillett, Jr. and Tom Hicks will be the new owners of English Liverpool.

Shareholders had until Monday to respond to the GBP 5,000 per share offer and a statement to the Stock Exchange said Gillett and Hicks "received valid acceptances in respect of approximately 80.7 percent of Liverpool's issued share capital."

Work on the club's new 60,000-seat stadium is set to start immediately.

Gillett and Hicks, who both own NHL ice hockey franchises, watched Liverpool whip Spanish Barcelona in the Champions League at Anfield last Tuesday.

Meetings on the new Stanley Park stadium will be held within the next week.

"It is an historic day for the club," Rick Parry, Liverpool's chief executive, told the Liverpool Echo. "It's obviously very pleasing to hear that George and Tom have reached the threshold they required and I'm sure they're equally delighted with the news.

"It has not come as a great surprise to us because from the moment we accepted the bid the response has been positive. We had heard earlier in the week a positive announcement was imminent.

"There are some formalities to go through before Tom and George take over as co-chairmen. Having received indications they can buy the shares, the process of purchasing now begins. That can take a week or two.

"The next game they will be attending will be against Arsenal on 31 March, by which time the process should be concluded."

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