Liverpool owner George Gillett has agreed to sell the NHL's Montreal Canadiens to the Molson family in a deal that could help lift the financial cloud over the Barclays Premier League club.
The deal to sell the NHL's most successful ever team is worth a reported US dollars 550 million (£330 million).
Gillett put the Canadiens up for sale earlier this year as he scrambles to find funds to meet obligations on debt incurred as part of his takeover of Liverpool in partnership with Tom Hicks.
The sale includes Gillett's 80% stake in the team, the Bell Centre arena, and the Gillett Entertainment Group. Brewing moguls the Molsons, who sold the controlling interest in the team to Gillett for around USD275 million (£165 million) in 2001, already own the remaining 20% share.
"This is a very exciting time for our family and we are grateful to the many people and organisations who came forward to offer their collaboration in the development of our proposal," Geoff Molson said in a statement.
The sale must first be approved by the NHL's Board of Governors, and will likely not be completed for several more weeks.
The NHL's approval of the sale would, however, seemingly be only a matter of course.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman responded positively to the news of the deal today, saying: "I think to the extent that they've been able to find people who are obviously passionate about the game and structure a transaction that makes sense for everybody, that's a real plus for the franchise and the fans in Montreal."
News of the deal comes a little over two weeks after Liverpool's accountants warned of "significant doubt" over the club's parent company's ability to continue as a going concern with debt repayments due on July 24.
The company formed by Gillett and Hicks suffered a loss of £42.6 million (USD70.5 million) last year, largely on interest repayments. The pair took out a loan of £350 million (USD580 million) when they bought the club in 2007.
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people the debt is not secured on the club is secured on the parent company not liverpool, if worse comes to pss they will have to sell liverpool which is easy enough to do lets be honest, we wont go under theres no chance.. rafa has been given 40mil this summer and thats a certainty.. to be honest its bout time fifa and uefa step in here and put a wage and buyin cap on transfers.. no player is worth 10mil let alone 80 its wrong and will ruin the game, it should never be bout money its bout pride of playing for the team u love the most...footy has gone from a religon to business and its discusting..!!
why dont they just pis s off no one likes them they dont even like real football they dont even know the rules no doubt , just money grabbing yanks @#$% em.
This is about the worst outcome for liverpool. It means H&G will use the club to raise further lending. Unfortunately £330 million will not be used to pay off Liverpools debts as H&G are investing big, real big in the Green Bay packers but are still somewhat short, they will next sell Torres under his feet to Chelsea to raise funds, hey nothing personal, it's business.
ahem Prem
In a roundabout way this is a decent show of support for Liverpool, although i think he recognises that the rem is more lucrative than his other involvements.... purely better business
Give all your money to LFC, Gilett!
Dont worry liverpool fans there will be a line miles long to buy liverpool football club if the yanks dont come up with the cash.
Good news for Liverpool fans, at last the owners are starting to show like they want to be involved in Liverpool. Now maybe Liverpool can get their new stadium with extra funds available. They should sell Torres to Chelsea with Drogba going the other way + cash.
GIVE LIVERPOOL MORE CASH TO BUY GREAT PLAYERS LIKE TEVEZ VILLA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YANKS SELL LIVERPOOL WE NEED TO KEEP THE PLAYERS WE HAVE AND NEED MORE CASH TO BID FOR NEW PLAYERS IF TEVEZ LIKES TO PLAY FOR LIVERPOOL LET HIM SIGN YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA
GIVE LIVERPOOL MORE CASH TO BUY GREAT PLAYERS LIKE TEVEZ VILLA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YANKS SELL LIVERPOOL WE NEED TO KEEP THE PLAYERS WE HAVE AND NEED MORE CASH TO BID FOR NEW PLAYERS IF TEVEZ LIKES TO PLAY FOR LIVERPOOL LET HIM SIGN YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA
GIVE LIVERPOOL MORE CASH TO BUY GREAT PLAYERS LIKE TEVEZ VILLA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YANKS SELL LIVERPOOL WE NEED TO KEEP THE PLAYERS WE HAVE AND NEED MORE CASH TO BID FOR NEW PLAYERS IF TEVEZ LIKES TO PLAY FOR LIVERPOOL LET HIM SIGN YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA
private pocket or
repay last seasons lost and give
lord rafa a extra 35 - 40 million to keep what he`s got and maybe get 1-2 players
you know all eyes are on you and july 25 2009
"the day after"
a gillette shaves closer than a bic lol how much more can he shave off the club lfc belongs to liverpool not a foreign owner
blood hell i near fell of my seat the yanks selling
bought time the sold somethin,hopefully we will have some extra funds for transfers
all english team suck.... have no history and honour left in them.. its just a business
spoilt brats with an ugly boring toy.... liverpool
what the ^%$£ why doesnt he sell Livrpool to a rich owner rather sell his "£$%% company to fund liverpool when he will just take dept out on the club 'get out our club get out if our club you mancy basterds get out of our club.'
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