A consortium of Norwegian businessmen, who include in their number an environmental activist who once chained himself to the gates of Sellafield, are preparing a financial package which they hope will allow them to buy into Liverpool and end the European champions' lengthy search for major new investment.
The group have been put together by Oystein Stray Spetalen, a financial investor worth an estimated £150 million, with their principal backer the hotel magnate Petter Stordalen.
The 43-year-old Stordalen is something of a celebrity in Norway, having championed the country's tourist industry and tied himself to a footbridge over a drainage pipe at Sellafield in 2002 after claiming radioactive emissions from the nuclear power plant were polluting the Norwegian coast. "It is my policy not to comment on any potential investments," Spetalen told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.
Stordalen owns 90 per cent of the Choice Hotels Scandinavia group, Norway's largest hotel chain, and is believed to be attracted by the potential of building a hotel alongside Liverpool's proposed new stadium on Stanley Park, together with a possible casino. The Norwegian pair have already sought advice on English football and Liverpool's future potential from the former Swindon, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Barnsley striker Jan Aage Fjortoft on the scheme.
Fjortoft is currently manager at Lillestrom and Spetalen hopes he would play some role at Liverpool should they succeed in buying significantly into the club.
Liverpool opted against commenting last night but are aware of the group's interest, though privately they are sceptical whether the Norwegians value the club at the £200 million the current chairman David Moores believes it to be worth. The Norwegians' clout could be increased significantly should the building magnate and long-standing Liverpool suitor Steve Morgan become involved in their bid, as has been mentioned in Norway.
Morgan, Liverpool's third largest shareholder with a 5.5 per cent stake in the club, has twice been knocked back by Moores having submitted proposals to increase his holding, the chairman insisting he had undervalued the club. The Garston-born businessman boasts an estimated fortune nearer £370 million. Guardian Service
