Liverpool confirm FSG stake sale that values club at £4.2bn

Things could have turned out very differently for Liverpool in the last 15 years if Fenway Sports Group had not bought the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

FSG, who paid £300m in a deal that football finance expert Kieran Maguire has previously described to TBR Football as the “deal of the century”, are the Premier League’s most respected owners.

Following the takeover in 2010, the Boston sports investment group cleared Liverpool’s debt and eventually got the club back on its perch at the top of English and European football.

Fenway have had to compete with probably the greatest team in the Premier League era in their time at Anfield but have still delivered eight trophies. And under Arne Slot, the Reds 20th league title is imminent.

As it happens, Manchester City’s petrodollar-fuelled success in the last decade could quite easily have been theirs had Sheikh Mansour’s bid to buy Liverpool in 2008 succeeded.

Amanda Staveley of Newcastle United fame is – or, at least, was – a Liverpool fan and before she helped engineer the Abu Dhabi takeover of City had been in discussions with Hicks and Gillett.

But the American duo eventually kyboshed that would-be deal. If not, modern football would likely be in a very, very different place.

City wouldn’t have been subject to over 100 financial charges, Gulf wealth may not have developed as strong a grip on football, and the lawfare that has paralysed the Premier League may have been averted.

But FSG got the nod over the sovereign wealth bid and the rest is history.

Fenway Sports Group’s ownership model could not have been more different from Abu Dhabi United Group’s, at least not in those early years.

While City were disruptors hell bent on smashing the glass ceiling overnight, FSG were more measured. Every decision – commercial or sporting – has been backed up by terabytes of data and caution.

That has rankled with Liverpool fans over the years. Just look at the current saga involving Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, whose contractual situations are still up in the air because of FSG’s risk aversion.

But in the naval gazing world of football finance, FSG’s business plan is almost peerless. They have delivered year-on-year commercial growth, consistent profits, and silverware in a way no other owner has.

Their fastidious approach to recruitment and retention meant they were among the Premier League’s lowest net spenders across both transfer windows in 2024-25.

Liverpool’s net spend statistics have often been used as a stick to beat John Henry, Tom Werner and their deputies in the FSG boardroom.

But in the grand sweep of history, they have kept their heads while football’s transfer and wage space race has reached ridiculous, unsustainable levels. At FSG HQ, it’s never silly season.

If this reads like fawning over the owners, it shouldn’t. They have made mistakes – massive, unforgivable ones.

The European Super League scars will likely never fully heal, and that shameful Liverpool-led plot came barely after FSG masterminded another attempt to restructure football in the form of Project Big Picture.

And like nearly all club owners, it should never be forgotten that FSG’s number-one KPI is return on investment, not trophies or fan sentiment. They haven’t spent hundreds of millions out of altruism.

They haven’t taken any money out of the club to date. The £300m takeover fee went straight to Hicks and Gillett, while any loans they have made to Liverpool are either at low or no-interest rates.

But they will one day want a return on their investment, which means selling the club to the highest bidder. When that time comes, they will recoup billions.

‘FSG Out’ still regularly trends on social media meanwhile, and for a brief period in 2023, it looked as though that loud minority had got their wish.

The owners announced that they had invited fresh investment in the club, with full and partial takeover options on the table.

In the end, partly thanks to being upstaged by Manchester United, they opted for the latter. And now, there is new detail on that equity sale.

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FSG’s minority equity sale confirmed in Liverpool accounts

By 2028, the private equity industry is expected to have £15 trillion worth of assets under management.

As a comparator, that’s almost four times the global oil and gas industry’s annual revenue. And football is an increasingly significant part of the sector’s interests.

In September 2023, Liverpool announced that they had sold a minority equity stake to Dynasty Equity, a sports-specific private equity fund based in New York.

Liverpool were Dynasty’s first flagship investment.

They have since become the lead investors in TMRW Sports, a sports, media and entertainment tech firm with a host of A-list backers including Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and Kevin Durant.

The price and scale of the Liverpool investment was never disclosed, with most sources citing a massive range of £82-164m cited and the actual equity amount described only as a ‘small percentage’.

Now, Liverpool’s accounts for 2023-24, which showcase record annual revenues of £614m have illuminated the extent of the deal.

Per analysis of the figures from football finance expert and author of the Vanity, Sanity, and Reality newsletter Greg Cordell, Dynasty’s investment is worth £127m.

FSG have seemingly reinvested that sum in the club via interest-free shareholder loans. The £127m was in exchange for – approximately – three per cent of the club’s equity.

That would value the club at a little under £4.25bn, which is broadly in line with how outlets like Forbes and Sportico have appraised Liverpool.

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What to Dynasty Equity want out of Liverpool deal?

‘The most expensive season ticket in football’ – that is how some in the football finance sphere refer to minority investment in a club.

Dynasty Equity do not have a seat on the board at Liverpool and, perhaps aside from some soft power at FSG headquarters, have essentially no influence on day-to-day operations.

So, what on earth is in it for them?

The value of the club will appreciate over time and, on paper, so too will Dynasty Equity’s tiny stake. But who would want to buy it at a markup when they too will have no power at Liverpool?

One scenario is that Liverpool become so profitable on a consistent basis that the owners start paying dividends, which is extremely unlikely.

In any case, Dynasty would only be entitled to a fraction of any profits and it would take eons for them to make a return on their investment even with the most wildly optimistic profit forecasts.

Instead, this investment may be seen as a loss leader for Dynasty Equity. It will get them into the right rooms, the right people will pick up the phone when they call, and it will grease the wheels of commerce.

As a sports-specific investor, Dynasty – who have splashed Liverpool branding all over their company website – can use the world-famous club for credibility and soft power.

It would be an expensive, high-tariff play, but the big brains in the world of private equity seem convinced it will pay off – and they aren’t wrong too often.

Alternatively, Dynasty’s investment could be seen as a foothold with a view to a full takeover, although that is purely speculation at this point.

They could have first refusal if and when FSG decide to sell the club entirely, or there could be clause that entitles any third-party buyer to buy out their shares at the same price in the event of a full takeover.

Again, speculation, but we have seen examples of this elsewhere.