spaniard seeks anfield stake

[liverbird04]

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/new...ticle353584.ece

 

 

Spaniard seeks Anfield stake

Liverpool chairman in talks with ex-Telefonica chief

By Abigail Townsend

Published: 26 March 2006

Liverpool could become the latest football club to succumb to foreign ownership if talks between chairman David Moores and the flamboyant former president of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica come off.

 

Juan Villalonga, who quit the owner of Arsenal sponsor O2 in 2000, is understood to be seeking a substantial stake in the Premier League club. According to reports in Spain, he is being advised by Rothschild and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

He is understood to want to increase the value of the club, modernise management and improve its domestic and global focus.

 

Liverpool, which is managed by the Spaniard Rafael Benitez, is controlled by Littlewoods heir Mr Moores. The club is keen to bring in fresh investment, and chief executive Rick Parry has been in talks with a number of parties recently, including the Thai prime minister and US billionaire Robert Kraft.

 

However, it is understood that the talks collapsed because Mr Moores was only interested in selling a small stake in the club. Construction millionaire Steve Morgan recently made several acrimonious but unsuccessful attempts to oust Mr Moores.

 

A Liverpool spokesman declined to comment on the latest set of talks.

 

During Mr Villalonga's tenure as head of Telefonica, he turned the former monopoly into one of Spain's biggest and most successful multinationals, buying up a number of overseas operators and holding merger discussions with Dutch group KPN Telecom and BT, though neither came to fruition.

 

But his controversial methods also meant he had a number of detractors. He was criticised for plans to reward executives with millions of share options, and some have claimed that the talks with BT fell apart because he insisted on running any combined company. He left Telefonica, which bought O2 last year, with a £14m payoff.

 

His personal life has been equally eventful, and in 1999 he left his wife and their three teenage children for a former Mexican beauty queen.

 

Liverpool could become the latest football club to succumb to foreign ownership if talks between chairman David Moores and the flamboyant former president of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica come off.

 

Juan Villalonga, who quit the owner of Arsenal sponsor O2 in 2000, is understood to be seeking a substantial stake in the Premier League club. According to reports in Spain, he is being advised by Rothschild and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

He is understood to want to increase the value of the club, modernise management and improve its domestic and global focus.

 

Liverpool, which is managed by the Spaniard Rafael Benitez, is controlled by Littlewoods heir Mr Moores. The club is keen to bring in fresh investment, and chief executive Rick Parry has been in talks with a number of parties recently, including the Thai prime minister and US billionaire Robert Kraft.

 

However, it is understood that the talks collapsed because Mr Moores was only interested in selling a small stake in the club. Construction millionaire Steve Morgan recently made several acrimonious but unsuccessful attempts to oust M

[anfield]

rather have mittal......

[Tosh]

Villalonga

 

You have to love the name.

[Falconhoof]

Villalonga

 

You have to love the name.

 

 

Its a building firm, they do extensions and conservatories.

[Jezzman]

Its a building firm, they do extensions and conservatories.

 

Do they take care of the furniture as well?

[McBain]

Villalonga

 

You have to love the name.

 

Villalonga. Give us ya wonga

[Rushian]

just reposting these here to keep everything together:

 

El fútbol es lo que tiene: Juan Villalonga negocia con la familia Moores su entrada en el capital del Liverpool CF

 

Miércoles, 22 de marzo de 2006

tamaño del texto columnas

 

El ex presidente de Telefónica, Juan Villalonga, que desde hace un año reside en Londres, mantiene conversaciones con la familia Moores, propietaria del Liverpool, para entrar en el capital del mítico equipo de fútbol británico. Y no es broma.

 

Multiplicar por cuatro el valor del centenario club y modernizar la gestión para ?pasar de un enfoque doméstico a uno global? son los dos puntos sobre los que el empresario español ha construido su oferta, con la que pretende desembarcar en el equipo de fútbol que hoy entrena el también español Rafa Benítez.

 

Villalonga está asesorado por la banca Rothschild y el Liverpool, fundado en 1892 y con 18 ligas, cinco copas de Europa, y tres copas de la UEFA, por Price Waterhouse Coopers. El equipo británico todavía no ha respondido a la oferta del empresario español. Este movimiento del ex presidente de Telefónica, que no deja de sorprender a propios y extraños, ya lo había dejado entrever en su blog el periodista deportivo de la Cope Javier Gómez Matallanas.

 

Desde hace tiempo, Villalonga viene compaginando la gestión de negocios propios (construye casas de bajo coste para las rentas menos pudientes de los países emergentes) con la participación en otros ajenos, como el Consejo del Banco Espirito Santo, accionista relevante de Portugal Telecom, inmerso estos días en pleno proceso de OPA. También es presidente de la sociedad Telnic, compañía dedicada a la explotación del nuevo dominio en Internet.

 

A parte del sector de las telecomunicaciones, su experiencia como presidente de Telefónica le ha acreditado como un gran conocedor de los mercados internacionales por lo que está asesorando a empresas de tamaño mediano ?para aumentar sus mercados, transformando su carácter local en empresas globales?.

 

http://www.elconfidencial.com/buscador/not...?sec=23&id=1201

 

miércoles, marzo 15, 2006

Rafa Benítez no ha ampliado su contrato con el Liverpool y sigue muy bien colocado para entrenar al Real Madrid

 

Saltaba la noticia a primera hora de la tarde: Benítez amplia una temporada más su contrato con el Liverpool, hasta 2010. Esta ampliación significaba que Rafa desaparecía de los posibles entrenadores del Real Madrid para la próxima temporada. Su representante, Manuel García Quilón, me lo ha desmentido en persona hace hora y media. El agente de Benítez, que acababa de regresar de Liverpool, estaba en un centro comercial de San Sebastián de los Reyes, donde varios jugadores han presentado la nueva bota de Adidas, me ha comentado que no han ampliado el contrato, que su vinculación con el Liverpool es hasta 2009. Benítez ha estado negociando con los propietarios del club los refuerzos de la próxima temporada. Los dueños del Liverpool le han prometido que dispondrá de 60 millones de euros. Detrás de los inversores del Liverpool puede estar el ex español Juan Villalonga, ex presidente de Telefónica.

Rafa Benítez sigue, por tanto, muy bien colocado en la lista de candidatos para dirigir al Real Madrid la próxima campaña.

 

Manuel García Quilón ha acudido desde el aeropuerto directamente a San Sebastián de los Reyes para buscar a Baraja, uno de sus representados, que junto a Villa, Kezman, Raúl García, Gabi, Diego Milito o Valera han participado en la presentación de la bota +F50 TUNIT, el nuevo modelo de Adidas.

 

http://mata-dor.blogspot.com/2006/03/rafa-...u-contrato.html

[Kahnee]

Thanks for clearing that up Rushian

[CarraLegend]

This just been said on our rivals site

 

'New owner' story in tommorrows Guardian

 

...I think it's the Guardian anyway.

 

They reckon a Spanish consortium, headed by the former Telefonica/O2 chief, are trying to haggle a deal with the club.

 

They seem to want to pay 100M for control, Moores and Parry are said to be demanding somewhat more...

 

it was on 5 live about 30mins from a newpaper hack (didn't actually pick up what one it was) about 30 mins ago in the 'tomorrows papers' slot...

[Spike]

One thing that has been on my mind since this all broke is that if it did happen would we be going down the 'celebrity uberpower chairman' s*** of the Spanish leagues. The same that Rafa walked from at Valencia.

[Bailo]

Oh, if only the Krafts had worked out.

[Knox_Harrington]

Oh, if only the Krafts had worked out.

Not enough bodysurfing.

[Falconhoof]

 

 

The Krafts working out

[Bailo]

Not enough bodysurfing.

 

They also had a lack of Glazer-esque ginger beards.

[Keita]

And next sunday its Robert Maxwell taking us over.

[Guest jcreds]

I think Villa is on sale.

[richt71]

I think Villa is on sale.

 

Just seen a snippet from todays Guardian which says:-

 

Liverpool's search for investment will not see the London-based Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga buying into the club. The 52-year-old had offered to buy a £42m stake in the European champions but Liverpool were unconvinced as to the source of his funding and have turned their attention elsewhere.

 

(sorry there was a link but after I copied it they've changed the articles around!)

[Dule]

Any spanish lads around to clear things up? Some background on him maybe?

 

And i read that Guardian report too, sounds like they are sure about it aswell.

[CarraLegend]

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liv...-name_page.html

 

LIVERPOOL FC is unlikely to entertain a bid by a Spanish millionaire to buy a £42m stake in the club.

 

London-based Juan Villalonga is reportedly in talks with chairman David Moores to invest in Anfield and turn Liverpool into a "global force".

 

But the Daily Post understands club officials are unlikely to entertain his offer, despite uncertainty over funding for its proposed new stadium in Stanley Park.

 

Yesterday, Mr Villalonga, 52, was reported to have pledged: "I want Liverpool to change from a domestically-focused club into a global force."

 

Investment has become a key issue for Liverpool as the club attempts to compete with the financial muscle of Chelsea and Manchester United

 

The new stadium at Stanley Park, with an enhanced capacity of 60,000, has been seen as a major plank in that strategy but the costs have risen considerably since it was first mooted five years ago, up from £80m to anything between £150m and £200m.

 

Speculation continues that an announcement on an investor is imminent, but none has yet materialised.

 

Mr Moores has so far declined to reduce his stake in the club below the 51% which gives him an automatic majority.

 

An attempt for a £70m investment by local businessman Steve Morgan collapsed in 2004, as did a £60m deal with the Thai government. A deal with US tycoon Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots American football team, was also thought possible after LFC chief executive Rick Parry was spotted watching his team last year but there has been no progress since, in public at least.

 

It is understood Mr Villalonga believes he can quadruple Anfield income by modernising the management and building a marketing campaign in the United States.

 

He has employed Rothschilds to negotiate with Liverpool, it was reported.

 

Mr Villalonga is a personal friend of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who appointed him president of Telefonica, the Spanish equivalent of BT, 10 years ago.

 

He walked away with a golden handshake of £14.5m in 2000 and joined the board of American Spanish-language network Univision the following year.

 

It is unclear whether the money he wants to invest in Liverpool is from his personal fortune or whether he will head a consortium of British businessmen.

 

He also owns a construction firm which builds low-cost housing in eastern Europe and Latin America, and is president of telecom company, Telnic, in London.

 

He has a number of financial consultancies and other telecom interests in countries such as Russia, Portugal and the US.

 

A Liverpool FC spokesman last night refused to comment on Mr Villalonga's reported offer.

[Figaro]

Villalonga's money is Cuban exile money...

 

Dodgy, dodgy, dodgy.

[Guest Kuzco]

the man himself...

 

[Rushian]

The funniest thing is the £42m mentioned in all the English articles (including the Daily Post) doesn't refer to an actual bid. This is the money (60m euro) promised by the board to Benitez this summer according to Rafa's agent, who told the journo with the blog at the Adidas event in San Sebastian. However no one at the papers can be arsed to do a translation so they just see the figure and use it as "the bid".

Edited March 27, 2006 by Rushian

[David Hodgson]

the man himself...

 

 

The Spanish Eamon Holmes.

 

 

The funniest thing is the £42m mentioned in all the English articles (including the Daily Post) doesn't refer to an actual bid. This is the money (60m euro) promised by the board to Benitez this summer according to Rafa's agent, who told the journo with the blog at the Adidas event in San Sebastian. However no one can be arsed to do a translation so just sees the figure and uses it as "the bid".

 

I wondered where that rather specific figure had come from.

 

So, in conclusion, do you think this is all cobblers ?

[Mike]

never mind that, what about the £42 million!

i'll have some of that (vacariously in rafas hands of course)

[jimmylibel]

The funniest thing is the £42m mentioned in all the English articles (including the Daily Post) doesn't refer to an actual bid. This is the money (60m euro) promised by the board to Benitez this summer according to Rafa's agent, who told the journo with the blog at the Adidas event in San Sebastian. However no one at the papers can be arsed to do a translation so they just see the figure and use it as "the bid".

 

This nugget is a bit out of nowhere - how did you manage to come across this mate?