The Kraft family still keen to buy Liverpool Football Club

curiousOrange SG

Source : Goal.com USA senior editor Andrew Giffen

Americans Krafting A Liverpool Takeover?
9/15/2005 5:54:00 PM
"First it was American tycoon Malcolm Glazer treading on fans' wishes and strong-arming his way to control of Manchester United, but now it appears Liverpool could be the next to crumble.
Reports out of England's Daily Mail indicate the Kraft family is on the verge of investing in the defending European Champions--as much as a 30% stake to start.

The Krafts are the investor/operators of Major League Soccer's New England Revolution, who currently carry the best record in MLS. The Kraft family also acted as investor/operators for the San Jose Earthquakes from 1998-2001.

But the Krafts are best known as owners of the NFL's New England Patriots, winners of three of the past four Super Bowls. Both the football and gridiron teams play at state-of-the-art Gillette Stadium, the $325 million development and construction of which the Krafts oversaw.

A move by the Krafts would come on the heels of Manchester United's May takeover by Malcolm Glazer, who owns the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 2001 Super Bowl Champions, although it is unclear how the Krafts would finance a possible takeover bid.

The Kraft family's patriarch, Robert Kraft, was instrumental in helping the Boston/Foxboro area become one of nine host cities for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. In addition Kraft carries a glowing reputation for his community involvement, something the reclusive Glazer is not known for.

But the Krafts may face competition from Thai media tycoon Paiboon Damrongchaitham, chariman of Thailands largest multimedia group GMM Grammy. Damrongchaitham is expecting to resume investment talks with Liverpool next month.

If the Glazer-United saga is any indication, however, expect fierce outcry from Reds supporters."

My view: Majority of the Reds supporters i've spoken to are actuallly quite excited by the news. First of all, 30% is not take over. Secondly, the Kraft family will provide the much needed cash injection as well as good marketing ideas and strategies to promote the Liverpool Brand which has gone stagnant over the years despite us winning the UEFA Cup in GH's era as well as the Champions League last year.

Any thoughts after reading the article?

stellazio SG

WAH NFL rivalry bring until EPL ar..Good la,maybe got more money for pool to invest also.. Laughing

curiousOrange SG

Im hoping Rafa bid for Joaquin (that winger from Real Betis) if we really get some cash injection from those Americans.

But I heard the only stumbling block in the investment is that David Moores is not willing to sell more than 20% of his shares in LFC. Sianz

crazy monkey SG

can you imagine Liverpool players doing kraft commercial Laughing

SBS9828X SG

Stevie with Kraft's latest cheeeese Laughing

The man who was death SG

i dun think the pool fans would like a hostile takeover like man u

curiousOrange SG

I believe a hostile takeover only applies to Listed Companies. ManU was listed in UK but Liverpool FC was privately owned by a few major shareholders.

David Moores is the biggest shareholder of LFC right now and chairman of the board. He holds more than 50% of the shares in LFC(not sure how much). ..therefore Liverpool belongs to him.

If the Kraft family really buys 30% of the shares in LFC, they will be just another major shareholder and probably can send some representatives to sit in the board of directors together with David Moores and the rest.

But in essence, Kraft's proposal to buy 30% of LFC's shares will not enable them to take over LFC (although after they get the 30% shares, they might tempt David Moores to sell more shares to them until they eventually owns more than 50%)

But a lot of Reds fans in UK are desperate for more investors who has good business acumen to come in... partly because LFC wants to build a new stadium, the project stalled because of the enormous amount involved.

curiousOrange SG

Actually, not the same Kraft lah Very Happy

This Kraft family is the owner of Rand-Whitney Group, a packaging company and International Forest Products, a paper commodity trader.

The two combined companies make up the largest privately-held paper and packaging companies in the United States. (According to Wikopedia Wink )

Personally I am hoping the investment goes through. The Kraft family has a proven record in their sports related investment. I like their management style. They find the best manager available in US to coach New England Patriots. Then they simply let the manager do his own thing. For their soccer team New England Revolution, they employed Steve Nicol(former Liverpool great) as their coach.

They restrict their involvement to financing and marketing the team and making sure the manager gets the player he wants. This is very different from how that Roman Abramovic guy tries to control every aspect of Little Russia.

The man who was death SG

chey!! even if the kraft family want to control everything with new england, they can't, the major league got caps on wages , transfer fees and a lot of things.

curiousOrange SG

Yup...agree

I think they will need advice from people who knows the football industry in Europe cause it's very different from what they managed before.

One of the reason why many Liverpool fans in UK want the Kraft family to invest is because they have shown the willingness to learn the footballing culture in England.

They are approaching Liverpool FC as a group called G4 or L4 (can't remember the name Wink )

This group includes:

1) Kenny Daglish (who will be their representative to sit in the board of directors).

2) Mike Jefferies ( the hollywood Director for the new movie "GOAL" ) Mike Jefferies is born in Liverpool and a die hard liverpool fan. He will be involved in the marketing aspect.

3) Kraft Family- they are the sugar daddy of the group Laughing

CoolMyth SG

The problem with Glazer is that he's using Man U as collateral to pay off the loans he need to take over Man U, hence the uproar.

If the Kraft people use their own money, I won't mind. Most of all, have transfer funds as and when needed and not restricted at all! Cool