by the Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ebee...bdc0.html?ftcamp=rss

Sahara India Pariwar, an Indian conglomerate that sponsors the national cricket team, has pulled out from the race to acquire the English Premier League team Liverpool Football Club due to debt concerns, people familiar with the matter said.

The Indian group controlled by billionaire industrialist Subrata Roy had been trying to negotiate an agreement with the English club for several months, but Liverpool FC’s high debt exposure stalled the negotiation, a person involved in the deal said on Tuesday.

In the latest full-year results released in May, Liverpool FC reported that its losses had swollen to £54.9m, up from £40.9m, and its total debt had risen to £351m.

Late on Monday evening, Sahara formalised its decision not to take part in the bidding process. “The deal for [the] acquisition of Liverpool Football Club was in our consideration in the recent past. However, after considering all related factors, we have decided not to go ahead with it, at least for the time being.”

The English club expects to receive at least two “credible bids” by the end of the week, said Martin Broughton, the chairman of Liverpool FC, who has been appointed by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the club’s American owners, to broker a sale.

Now that Sahara has pulled out of the race Kenny Huang, a Chinese businessman and sports entrepreneur who was said to have the backing of an Asian sovereign wealth fund, seems to be the front runner to take over the debt-ridden club.

Other parties interested in the club are: Yahya Kirdi, a Syrian businessman; Rafed Al-Kharafi, the nephew of the Kuwait-based businessman Nasser al-Kharafi; the Rhône Group, a New York-based venture capital company; and a consortium of Gulf businessmen.