A state-backed Chinese group is plotting to buy a stake in Liverpool Football Club in a deal valuing the Premier League outfit at more than £700m – even as its American owners insist they have no intention of relinquishing control.

Sky News has learnt that China Everbright, a financial services conglomerate, parts of which are listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, is working with PCP Capital Partners, an investment and advisory firm, on plans to acquire a substantial shareholding in Liverpool alongside Fenway Sports Group (FSG).

Insiders said on Saturday that their proposals were not yet finalised but added that the consortium could also include investment from other Chinese state-owned parties.

Silk Road Finance Corp, an investment firm whose directors include John Thornton, a former Goldman Sachs and HSBC director, is also thought to be involved in the consortium's discussions.

Sources said that any investment was likely to be structured as a joint venture or partnership rather than an outright takeover.


If completed, a deal would represent one of the most significant investments to date by a Chinese company in one of English football's biggest names.

An agreement of any kind remains far from certain, though, not least because of the Americans' repeated public insistence that Liverpool is not for sale.

A preliminary offer is already understood to have been tabled by the Everbright consortium, according to one insider, with them pitching potential commercial opportunities for Liverpool in China.

Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the vehicle which acquired control of Liverpool in 2010 in a deal which sparked a bitter legal battle with its former owners, owns a number of other prominent sports properties, including the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

FSG has dismissed speculation that it is interested in an outright sale of Liverpool but has signalled that it is open to selling a minority stake.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo this week, Tom Werner, the club's chairman, was quoted as saying: "We've said in the past, under the right conditions and absolutely with the right partner, we could look at some small investment stake in the club but only in the framework of doing what would be in the club's long-term best interests."

A source close to FSG said Liverpool's current owners had nevertheless engaged advisers to guide them on any serious discussions about a joint venture or partnership which involved the sale of an equity stake.

Mr Werner added: "I'd say that from time to time somebody says they have made an offer to buy us but they are really saying that just for publicity.

"People throw offers to us which we don't think are real.

"We haven't had a discussion or a negotiation with anyone because this club is not for sale."

Last month, The Sunday Times reported that Liu Yiqian, a wealthy Chinese businessman, made an unsolicited offer to buy Liverpool but was rebuffed on the basis that his offer undervalued the club.

Liverpool began the new Premier League season by beating Arsenal, but lost 2-0 away at Burnley on Saturday afternoon.

A flood of Far Eastern cash has been drawn to English football in recent months, with Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers all securing takeovers by Chinese buyers.

China Media Capital, an investment firm, bought a minority stake in Manchester City last year in a deal announced weeks after the Chinese Premier, Xi Jinping, visited the club during a state visit to Britain.

Theresa May, the new Prime Minister, has implied that she is sceptical about Chinese investment by delaying a final decision on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, although it is unlikely that the Government would object to foreign ownership of a Premier League club.

A spokesman for PCP declined to comment, while Everbright could not be reached for comment.