Red Sox group closer to Liverpool buy after ruling

A group led by the owners of the Boston Red Sox moved closer to a £300 million ($475 million) buyout of Liverpool soccer club after a judge blocked an attempt to stop the sale.

Liverpool’s lender, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, argued that the current owners couldn’t fire board members and appoint replacements. Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who have two days to pay back RBS a £237 million loan, were trying to stop the sale to Tom Werner and John W. Henry’s New England Sports Ventures LLC. The new purchase agreement pledges to repay £200 million of the debt on completion of the takeover.

Hicks and Gillett “do not have the absolute right to veto a sale,” Justice Christopher Floyd said in his judgment at London’s High Court today. “If I were to grant an injunction, the potential damage to the club and RBS would be substantial.”

Hicks and Gillett on October 5 tried to fire directors Ian Ayre and Christian Purslow hours before a sale agreement. Floyd ruled today that the board must be reconstituted, and Chairman Martin Broughton called a meeting. During that meeting, which Hicks and Gillett have been told about, the deal with the Red Sox owners is likely to be confirmed.