LONDON // A British judge granted an injunction yesterday against the Liverpool owners that could clear the way for the club’s sale to the parent company of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
The High Court judge, Christopher Floyd, issued an order against the legal action taken in Dallas by American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.
Hicks and Gillett’s companies, meanwhile, filed a motion in Dallas asking that the Royal Bank of Scotland, New England Sports Ventures and Liverpool’s independent board members be held in contempt and jailed.
Hicks and Gillett had obtained a temporary restraining order on Wednesday blocking the £300 million (Dh 1.75billion) sale to New England Sports Ventures.
The British judge ordered them to withdraw their action by 4pm London time today or be held in contempt of court.
The Texas District Court judge, Jim Jordan, declined comment in Dallas when informed about the injunction in England.
David Chivers, the NESV lawyer, said the sale would go through once the Texas case is withdrawn. “We are the owners (of Liverpool),” Chivers told the High Court.
The British judge said the legal action in Texas amounted to “unconscionable conduct on the part of Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett”.
“This case has no real connection to Texas,” Floyd said. He criticised Hicks and Gillett for not telling the Texas court that the High Court in London had ruled against them earlier on Wednesday in their attempts to block the sale. “It’s a deliberate omission not to mention the fact,” Floyd said.
Despite the restraining order issued from Texas, the Liverpool board voted on Wednesday for the second time to approve the sale to NESV.
Richard Snowden, a lawyer representing Royal Bank of Scotland – which controls Liverpool’s debts and has been trying to get the sale approved – told the High Court that the Texas ruling was “inappropriate” and should have no bearing on the case.
“The Texas court seems to have been told remarkably little about the proceedings in this court,” Snowden said. “This is the most outrageous abuse of process ... the proceedings in Texas are plainly inappropriate. This dispute concerns an English football club and their English companies. It has nothing to do with Texas other than the fact that Messrs Hicks and Gillett may reside there.”
The legal wrangling continued on both sides of the Atlantic as Hicks and Gillett’s company filed a motion in Dallas asking that the Royal Bank of Scotland, NESV and Liverpool’s independent board members be held in contempt and jailed.
“Further showing their unlawful intentions and brazen disregard for their obligations, defendants have undisputedly – and, according to their statements, quite proudly – violated this court’s temporary restraining order,” the motion said.
Debts and liabilities resulting from Hicks and Gillett’s leveraged purchase of the club three years ago have grown to around £285m, which is owed to RBS and Wells Fargo and is due by today.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The specs: 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor
Price, base / as tested Dh220,000 / Dh320,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Power 421hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 678Nm @ 3,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.1L / 100km
