by Leonmc0708 » Sun May 09, 2004 9:30 pm
I really dont now if this is fact or fiction, I have been on the official website, but no word.
My mate just belled me and he claims that he has it on good authority that there is a press conference for tomorrow regarding the Thai Primeminister and possible investment.
Apparently Rick Parry has been in Thailand to confirm the finer details of an investment of £65m for around a 30% stake in the club.
I am not usually one for gossip, and I do slate people for reading the tabloids and then posting, but this mate is the same one who told me Heskey was signing well before he did, about Anelka two weeks before he came and that Cisse was a done deal last close season.
Lets just wait and see, I posted this cus the news excited me, and I am sure it will you.
The following I found on the Routers news website:
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has promised to reveal details shortly about a report that he is going to buy a stake in Liverpool.
"Next week there will be bigger news. There will be a lot more details and then I will tell you about it," Thaksin, a billionaire telecom tycoon-turned-politician, told reporters after playing golf on Sunday. "I can't say anything today."
The report in the Thai-language Thai Rath newspaper quoted Deputy Commerce Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal as saying Thaksin would sign a deal on Monday to buy a 30 percent stake in Liverpool for 4.6 billion baht (80 million pounds).
In March, Liverpool's board turned down a proposal from property developer Steve Morgan to raise his stake in the club via a rights issue.
Morgan is the club's third largest shareholder with five percent behind television company Granada with 9.9 percent and chairman David Moores who has a majority 51 percent.
Last July, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought London premier league club Chelsea, embarking on a $200 million spending spree.
The Thai Rath report said the deal would entitle him and his partners to commercial rights in Asia. Liverpool would also set up a soccer academy in Thailand and help with the country's professional league, the paper said.
Liverpool would fly a representative to sign the deal on Monday, the paper added.
PONGSAK DENIAL
But Pongsak, who played golf with the prime minister on Sunday, told Reuters he had given no such interview.
"I'll admit there have been negotiations but no agreement has been reached, so how can they sign a deal on Monday?", he said.
Thaksin declared an interest in buying a stake in Liverpool in February after his bid for English premier league rivals Fulham failed last year.
Thai media have reported that local beer baron Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi was also keen on joining Thaksin in the Liverpool bid.
The Thai Rath report on Sunday said Thaksin would set up a company with private partners for the soccer purchase.
Thaksin, estimated to be worth $1 billion by Forbes magazine in 2002, watched the value of his family's holdings soar along with a surging Thai stock market last year.
The family controls Thailand's largest telecom group, Shin Corp, which has interests ranging from television to the Internet.
Charoen is a major shareholder in Thai beer maker Thai Beverages, which produces top-selling Chang Beer and several brands of whisky such as Mekhong and Saeng Som, and makes a profit of more than $250 million a year.
JUSTICE FOR THE 96
