Reliance Industries chairman and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani has expressed interest in buying English football club Liverpool FC, according to a leading English daily. Ambani, who also owns the Indian Premiere League franchise Mumbai Indians, is the eighth richest man in the world with a net worth of $90 billion, according to Forbes.
Along with parties from the USA and Gulf countries, he will also be in the fray to take over Liverpool from their current owners, the Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
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Earlier, The Athletic’s football journalist David Ornstein reported that FSG has put Liverpool up for sale. Ornstein said that FSG has appointed finance capital firms Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to assist them with selling the club. However, when asked about comments on the news, FSG neither accepted nor denied it.
When the Press Trust of India reached out to “few associated” with Reliance Industries, they declined to comment on it.
Responding to the news of Liverpool FC being up for sale FSG had earlier released a statement. It said: “There have been a number of recent changes of ownership and rumours of changes in ownership at EPL clubs and inevitably, we are asked regularly about Fenway Sports Group’s ownership in Liverpool.”
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“FSG has frequently received expressions of interest from third parties seeking to become shareholders in Liverpool. FSG has said before that under the right terms and conditions, we would consider new shareholders if it was in the best interests of Liverpool as a club,” the statement added.
Liverpool is currently valued at $3 million by Forbes magazine but given the recent takeover at Chelsea by American business tycoon Todd Bohely for $5.4 billion, the actual price for the club could be way higher. Given Liverpool’s recent success under Jurgen Klopp, they could well be above what rivals Chelsea went for.
The Fenway Sports Group, owned by John W. Henry, bought the club in 2010.