Liverpool is one of four Premier League clubs under American ownership.LONDON: Liverpool's board agreed to sell the debt-riddled Premier League club to the owners of the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, but may have to take legal action to force out the existing American owners. Current co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. have already said they will resist the bid from New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Red Sox, and a separate bid from Asia. Hicks and Gillett said the Boston bid – and one from an unidentified Asian investor – “dramatically undervalue” the 18-time English champions. Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton said the Red Sox owners have offered to pay 300 million pounds ($477 million), which is only likely to cover the debts and bank charges stemming from the leveraged 2007 takeover by Hicks and Gillett. Despite the opposition of Hicks and Gillett, who own all the shares in Liverpool, Boston's offer was accepted by the three non-owner board members: Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton – who was hired by Hicks and Gillett in April to sell the club – plus managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre. The Premier League said it should be ready to approve the takeover by Friday. Broughton is set to go to court next week to reinforce his authority over the sale and challenge the owners' attempts to remove Purslow and Ayre from the board. Broughton said he expects the sale to be completed in about a week. Broughton said Hicks and Gillett have “flagrantly abused” written undertakings made to Royal Bank of Scotland, which holds the bulk of Liverpool's debt. “We need to go to the court to ... declare that we did act validly in completing the sale agreement, and then the buyers can complete the sale,” Broughton said. Liverpool is one of four Premier League clubs under American ownership, along with Manchester United, Aston Villa and Sunderland. Most prominent are Malcolm Glazer and his sons, owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who took over Manchester United in 2005 in a leveraged buyout worth $1.4 billion. Hicks wants to sell Liverpool for about 600 million pounds, a figure that has forced several investors to end their interest. The owners bought the club for 174 million pounds, taking on 44.8 million pounds of liabilities.
