The judge presiding over the High Court case involving Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Liverpool co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett has deferred making a ruling until Wednesday morning.
Mr Justice Floyd will make his ruling at 10.30 tomorrow morning it has been announced.
The judge was asked to impose injunctions on the owners requiring them to restore the original constitutions of the companies and managing directors, therefore removing the final stumbling block to a takeover by New England Sports Ventures.
Richard Snowdon QC, acting for RBS, accused the American owners of “breathtaking arrogance” and the bank claimed the pair contradicted the rules of a sales agreement when trying to remove commercial director Ian Ayre and managing director Christian Purslow from the board last week.
Ayre and Purslow along with chairman Martin Broughton voted in favour of the sale of the club to New England Sports Ventures, and if the court finds in favour of the bank and reinstates the board, then the takeover will be free to proceed.
Richard Snowden QC, representing RBS, told Justice Floyd that the owners now admitted “a calculated breach of contract” by seeking to change the constitution of the companies and the boards involved without the consent of the bank.
He said this was in order “to frustrate the sale necessary to repay the bank £200 million by this Friday”.
Hicks and Gillett admit the sales agreement was broken but argue that they were forced to do so because a “sub-committee” within the board excluded them from the sales agreement and refused to consider alternative offers.
Fresh bid
Paul Girolami QC, representing the American owners, said his clients “were not trying to throw a spanner in the works” of the proposed sale deal.
He said there had been other offers for the club which potentially were better than the one from NESV.
“What has happened is that the English directors (Broughton, Purslow and Ayre) have gone forward with the NESV bid without properly considering alternatives when those alternatives at least appear to give better prospects,” he said.
The board has denied claims from Hicks and Gillett that they were left out of the sales agreement, and that it is “besides the mark” that there are two alternative offers as the board are within their rights to accept the bid from NESV.
It emerged on Tuesday that Singaporean businessman Peter Lim has made a £320 million bid for the club and that American hedge fund Mill Financial has tabled a third offer to pay off all the club’s debt and commit £100 million towards a new stadium.
Lim is offering £320million to clear the acquisition debt, the club’s existing debt and outstanding bank fees and, in addition, provide £40million for squad strengthening in January – all with cash from his own personal wealth.
In a further development, Girolami, told the court that Friday’s deadline to repay RBS on October 15 is not applicable and that the two Americans are “locked into an agreement” until November 1 with the bank. This was denied by a QC for RBS and said the bank “deserves to be repaid £200 million on Friday.”
