Further comments have emanated from Thailand suggesting the deal to buy 30% of Liverpool FC by the Thai consortium is close.
Both Reuters and AFP carry quotes from Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra just before he entered a cabinet meeting to seek cabinet approval for the financing of the deal which seems to have been confirmed in principle at the Thai end.
http://www.redandwhitekop.com/article.php?id=466204Thaksin said he was confident Thailand would seal the deal later this week "Now 60 percent is comfortable, and there's still another 40 percent that we still have to discuss before we agree," he told reporters. "Three to four minor points need to be resolved."
The "three or four points" are thought to include the Thai representation on the board, the announcement and signing of the deal, and complications over the merchandising rights.
"In principle there shouldn't be any problem," he said. "We submitted the memorandum of understanding to them and they countered with their draft to us and then we have to have further negotiation," he said.
"Things should conclude this week," he said, adding he would send top government, sports and legal representatives to Britain on Wednesday to work out the final details of the agreement.
Then in comments which will reaffirm the suspicions of many Reds, Thaksin added that he was pursuing "other options" in case the deal with LFC fell through. He added that he was confident that by next month Thailand would have bought into the Premier League.
"Last night Liverpool informed me over the progress made and I do hope that we won't have any problem, but if we cannot agree with Liverpool we still have alternatives," he said. "It's likely that within June we will buy a share in the Premier League."
Thaksin also confirmed that the money for the deal would be raised through a one-off state lottery and stocks sold to the public. Neither he nor the Government of Thailand would invest funds.
© RAWK 2004
