A report on Wednesday claims Formula One owners Liberty Media could could be a contender to take a minority stake in Liverpool FC.
Last month, FSG owner John Henry said LFC was not for sale, but admitted talks were being held regarding the possibility of partial investment.
Up until now there has been little in the way of news as to who those partial investors could be, but a new story from The Telegraph‘s Sam Wallace says FSG are targeting “major media companies” to take a minority stake in the club.
And intriguingly, one media giant named as a “contender” to invest in the club is Liberty Media, which own Formula One, the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball and the SiriusXM radio group in the US.
Liberty acquired Formula One in January 2017 at an equity value of £3.6 million, announcing themselves as one of the world’s leading media companies in sport.
The report states that Liberty “declined to comment on interest in Liverpool or FSG.”
Interestingly, Liverpool’s Premier League rivals Tottenham confirmed a 15-year partnership with Formula One earlier this week, with an electric karting track to be built underneath their stadium.
It’s also highlighted that Liverpool have a history of selling stakes to media companies, with Granada buying a 9.9 percent stake in the club for £21m in 1999.
Wallace says “the size of the stake that FSG is prepared to sell is not yet clear,” but does add that, despite suggesting they are looking for investment in LFC itself, the club’s American owners would consider a sale of a stake in their own parent company “if it was in the interests of raising investment for the club.”
Such a move would be similar to the deal they struck with RedBird two years ago, which saw them sell 10 percent of their company to the private investment firm.
If the idea is for FSG to use new investment to help rebuild Jurgen Klopp‘s team this coming summer, then a deal will need to be done sooner rather than later.
At this stage, there’s nothing to suggest that Liberty Media are close to purchasing a stake in the club, but the link is certainly an interesting one.
