Mayer Brown acts on late Liverpool bid as £300m takeover goes through
Mayer Brown has advised investment company Mill Financial on its failed eleventh-hour bid for Liverpool FC, as US sports group New England Sport Ventures (NESV) completes its £300m takeover of the Premier League club. US investor Mill, which was advised by Mayer Brown's UK corporate head Peter Dickinson and corporate partner Kate Ball-Dodd, today (15 October) held negotiations with co-owner Tom Hicks over the acquisition of his stake in the club.
October 15, 2010 at 07:25 AM
3 minute read
Mayer Brown has advised investment company Mill Financial on its failed eleventh-hour bid for Liverpool FC, as US sports group New England Sport Ventures (NESV) completes its £300m takeover of the Premier League club.
US investor Mill, which was advised by Mayer Brown's UK corporate head Peter Dickinson and corporate partner Kate Ball-Dodd, today (15 October) held negotiations with co-owner Tom Hicks over the acquisition of his stake in the club.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Liverpool's main creditor, is owed around £280m by US co-owners Hicks and George Gillett and had set a deadline of today for repayment.
The Liverpool board, which supported the NESV bid, yesterday succeeded in its effort to push forward with the takeover after the High Court dismissed a temporary restraining order granted to Hicks and Gillett by a Texan court (click here to view the anti-suit injunction).
After the Texan court reconvened today to decide how to respond to the High Court's ruling, Hicks and Gillet withdrew their restraining order, clearing the way for a completion of the NESV takeover.
US sports group NESV, which is headed up by John Henry (pictured) – who has been holding discussions with the Liverpool board at Slaughter and May's City headquarters – is the parent company of Major League Baseball team Boston Red Sox.
In a statement, NESV said that the deal would eliminate "all of the acquisition debt placed on Liverpool by its previous owners, reducing the club's debt servicing obligations from £25m-£30m a year to £2m-£3m".
In a statement on behalf of Hicks and Gillett, Steve Stodghill of US law firm Fish & Richardson said: "This outcome not only devalues the club, but it also will result in long-term uncertainty for the fans, players and everyone who loves this sport because all legal recourses will be pursued.
"Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett pledged to pay the debt to RBS so that the club could avoid administration that was threatened by RBS. That offer was rejected. It is a tragic development that others will claim as a victory."
Dallas trial lawyer George Bramblett of US firm Haynes & Boone acted for NESV on today's negotiations, while Baker & McKenzie provided US law advice to the Liverpool board.
A raft of law firms have taken roles on the protracted takeover saga, including Slaughters, Macfarlanes, Weil Gotshal & Manges, Shearman & Sterling and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Freshfields banking partner Alex Mitchell commented: "We started advising RBS on Liverpool's debt facilities in 2008 and have worked closely with them ever since to put in place the framework for achieving today's successful refinancing."
For more, see:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All![X Ordered to Release Data by German Court Amid Election Interference Concerns X Ordered to Release Data by German Court Amid Election Interference Concerns](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://images.law.com/international-edition/contrib/content/uploads/sites/392/2023/10/AdobeStock_627004176_Editorial_Use_Only-767x633.jpg)
X Ordered to Release Data by German Court Amid Election Interference Concerns
![Compliance With the EU's AI Act Lags Behind as First Provisions Take Effect Compliance With the EU's AI Act Lags Behind as First Provisions Take Effect](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://k2-prod-alm.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/brightspot/25/7d/54707a6b409ca288c02206e94940/eu-artificial-intelligence-act-767x633.jpg)
Compliance With the EU's AI Act Lags Behind as First Provisions Take Effect
![Quinn Emanuel's Hamburg Managing Partner and Four-Lawyer Team Jump to Willkie Farr Quinn Emanuel's Hamburg Managing Partner and Four-Lawyer Team Jump to Willkie Farr](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://k2-prod-alm.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/brightspot/fa/c2/5b8749a84b7eb919caed3ca3d306/quinn-emanuel-urquhart-sullivan-office-sign-washington-13-767x633.jpg)
Quinn Emanuel's Hamburg Managing Partner and Four-Lawyer Team Jump to Willkie Farr
![Trump ICC Sanctions Condemned as ‘Brazen Attack’ on International Law Trump ICC Sanctions Condemned as ‘Brazen Attack’ on International Law](https://images.law.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,fit=contain/https://images.law.com/international-edition/contrib/content/uploads/sites/392/2023/11/Trump-Donald-White-House-2019-029-767x633-1.jpg)
Trump ICC Sanctions Condemned as ‘Brazen Attack’ on International Law
Trending Stories
- 1ACC CLO Survey Waves Warning Flags for Boards
- 2States Accuse Trump of Thwarting Court's Funding Restoration Order
- 3Microsoft Becomes Latest Tech Company to Face Claims of Stealing Marketing Commissions From Influencers
- 4Coral Gables Attorney Busted for Stalking Lawyer
- 5Trump's DOJ Delays Releasing Jan. 6 FBI Agents List Under Consent Order
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250