Liverpool FC Forum

by **Starbridge42** » Mon May 10, 2004 7:02 am

'Thai PM to take 30 precent in Liverpool'
BANGKOK, May 9 (Reuters) - Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra promised on Sunday to reveal details shortly about a report that he is going to buy a stake in English Premier League club Liverpool.

Thaksin: Liverpool link (DavidCannon/Empics)'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. '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 ($115.7 million).

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.

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.

($1=39.75 Baht)

I've found five sources for this and they all pretty much say the same thing (sources The Courier Mail, The Australian, Eurosportnews, ESPNSoccernet.com and TheWorldGame.com). Would you welcome such a deal? It would give us a lot of money to play around with.

by **Thor Viking** » Mon May 10, 2004 8:29 am

New money is always good ! But will he be living in Thailand, controlling parts of the club from there, or will he move to L`pool ?
It`s an advantage to be "intimately" known with the club, isn`t it?

by **Paul C** » Mon May 10, 2004 8:54 am

As long as the guy doesn't start trying to change the club I'm all for it cos from his profile he seems a decent bloke and he want to give 'the manager' about £30m in the summer for players

by **dawson99** » Mon May 10, 2004 9:10 am

We'll get some kind of academy going there and its gotta be good for business, i cant see it being a bad thing if the guy wants to chuck us a load of money, nice one matey i say :cool:

by **Redtribe** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:09 am

Like to know a bit more about the whole deal!
If he wants to increase his sharehold by a further 3% at some point then by Law he is required to plan a takeover bid. Therefore i would like to know a bit more about the bloke how he runs his telecoms buisness ect what his plans are for LFC and what kind of deal would happen with the Thailand Acadamy would we be required to take on Thai players in our squad .

Hopefully more info will be available this week but the whole thing does sound like its going to happen!

by **banana** » Mon May 10, 2004 11:13 am

Make no mistake. This guy is rich, but he is no Abramovich. Abramovich is number 25 in Forbes 500 (Ranking list of the richest people in the world). Shinawatra is not even in that list. So we will definately not become a new Chelsea. The thai guy will be flat broke if he tries to do an Abramovich.

by **Ginpetdai** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:01 pm

I live in Thailand. I just came to this board as I was curious as to what was being said about Thaksin.

It does appear that he is willing to make thirty million quid available for players but he is no Roman Abramovich.Abramovich has practically retired from business (he has sold most of his companies) and Chelsae is a hobby for him.

Charoen and Thaksin are gangster thugs and they wouldn't be spending money if they didn't expect to be getting a return on it.. I'm not currently sure what that is. Thaksin probably will get a political return in terms of popularity (Thais are all football mad and Liverpool are the second biggest team here.)

Thor, I can't see Thaksin moving to Liverpool. He is till the PM here and he is busy expanding his families money and influence.

Thaksin is also a complete prima donna (he has almost managed to completely muzzle the Thai press) and it will be interesting to see how he handles the English press.

by **Leonmc0708** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:05 pm

Two points Ginpetdai, just who is this other guy you named Charoen and who is the biggest club over there ?

by **Ginpetdai** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:14 pm

Charoen is a brewey tycoon with even more money than Thaksin and probably more influence. He used political influence to almost create a monopoly in the market for himself (Thaksin did the same thing in the telecommunications industry).

Manchester United are the biggest team in Thailand.

by **Paul C** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:24 pm

Hmmmm, a 'ganster thug' being involved with LFC, not sure that would be a good idea

by **Ginpetdai** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:19 am

All right, you should all be afraid. Thaksin is a complete autocrat and it has been suggested here in Thailand that he will want a say in buying players. He is a dodgy politician/ dodgy business man, not a football man at all. I'd be concerned if I were you, particularly if he ups his stake.

by **anfieldadorer** » Tue May 11, 2004 8:13 am

Do you think it's the rolling ball that Abramovich sees? I don't think so. He sees every rolling money.

by **thaihound** » Tue May 11, 2004 8:21 am

Paul C wrote:As long as the guy doesn't start trying to change the club I'm all for it cos from his profile he seems a decent bloke and he want to give 'the manager' about £30m in the summer for players :)

Hardly decent. This IS the man: "A combination of the corporate dominance of [Italy's Silvio] Berlusconi, [Venezuela's Hugo] Chavez's populist approach and the thuggery of [Zimbabwe's Robert] Mugabe." -- Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior editor at the Nation newspaper.

It is the latter characteristic that is drawing the most concern. In last year's much trumpeted war on drugs, more than 2,500 people were killed, of whom more than half were innocent civilians, believes Pradit Chareonthaitawee, a prominent member of the national human rights commission.

"Families blame the police [for the killings]," he says, describing one allegedly typical case when an old man's three sons were killed in broad daylight in the middle of a village. "They say the police just blocked the road and killed these three sons. One of the sons was stabbed in the mouth, the second electrically burned on the left side of the body and the third shot in the back."

Following this "war" in which no perpetrators were brought to justice, Thaksin turned his attention to the "dark influences" of corruption and vice. But again, those close to him seemed to remain untouched while other, seemingly innocent people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms." ???

by **anfieldadorer** » Tue May 11, 2004 9:10 am

Pol. Lt. Col. Thaksin Shinawatra
(born July 26, 1949 in Sankamphaeng, Chiang Mai province) is the prime minister of Thailand and the leader of the populist Thai Rak Thai party. As head of the Shin Corporation which controls (among others) Thailand's largest mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service, he is also reputedly the richest man in Thailand.
Thaksin graduated from the Thai Police Cadet Academy and joined the Royal Thai Police Department in 1973, but went on to obtain a doctorate in criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in the USA in 1978. After reaching the position of Deputy Superintendent of the Policy and Planning Sub-division, General Staff Division, Metropolitan Police Bureau, Thaksin quit the police to form the Shinawatra Computer and Communications Group in 1987. One of the group's members, Shinawatra Paging, is now Thailand's largest mobile phone operator AIS. In 1990, Thaksin made a daring but successful bid for a 20-billion baht, 20-year concession to operate the Thaicom Satellite.

Thaksin joined the political fray in 1994 as foreign minister under the wing of the Palang Dharma Party, promising to clean up politics. This was followed by a brief stint as Deputy Prime Minister and head of the PDP, ending in 1997 when the party imploded. In 1998, Thaksin formed his own Thai Rak Thai ("Thais Love Thais") party and started banging on the anti-corruption drum again, propelling him to the post of prime minister in January 2001.

Similarly to Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Thaksin has been dogged by the conflict of interest between his post as prime minister and his massive business interests, and in 2001 he only narrowly escaped conviction (and a 5-year ban on holding political office) for concealing financial assets. Thaksin's government has been unabashedly populist, throwing money at popular causes like cheap loans to farmers and subsidized health care. Thaksin's 2003 campaign against drug dealers was alleged to amount to the extrajudicial execution of several hundred suspects, and was heavily criticized by civil rights watchdogs. There have also been complaints that Thaksin has been stacking the civil service with his relatives and business associates, eg. elevating his cousin Gen. Chaiyasit Shinawatra from a remote district to Army commander-in-chief.

Source

by **Redtribe** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:16 am

This is starting to sound a little worrying

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