Liverpool Board Not Expecting Any Deadline Day Bids

No firm bids to buy Liverpool are expected to be made tomorrow, the self-imposed deadline by which the club's chairman, Martin Broughton, said he hoped to receive solid offers. Yahya Kirdi, the Syrian businessman based in Canada, continues to express a positive interest but if, as has been claimed, his financial backers are members of the ruling family of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, any firm bid from him is certain to be delayed.
Yesterday the family announced the death at 95 of Sheikha Maryam al-Shamsi, the mother of Sharjah's ruler, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qassimi. All members of the family will now observe seven days mourning during which no business will be conducted.
The Hong Kong-based businessman Kenneth Huang said today that his consortium "have confirmed with Liverpool's board that we are interested in bidding" but he has not translated that into a detailed proposal with the proof that the money is there, which Broughton has asked for.
Sources close to the process confirmed today that no firm offers, with the required proof of funds, have been received, and it is not thought likely that any will be delivered tomorrow. That means Liverpool's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, will be hit with another £2.5m, the penalty fee they are being charged by the Royal Bank of Scotland for every week the club is not sold.
Imposed on Hicks's and Gillett's Liverpool holding company, Kop, as part of the refinancing last April of £237m in loans from RBS, the £2.5m weekly penalties will, according to sources close to the arrangement, amount to an additional £60m if the club is not sold by 6 October, when the loan expires. That would mean RBS will have racked up more than £200m in interest and fees since it loaned Hicks and Gillett £185m to buy Liverpool in February 2007.
RBS would not confirm the £2.5m or £60m figures, but did acknowledge penalty fees are part of the loan arrangement. The accumulating fees are charged to Hicks's and Gillett's holding company, and will become due for repayment by the owners if and when the club is finally sold.