After initially getting the backing of the Royal Bank Of Scotland over concerns of the financial health of the club, Co - Owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have finished up a deal to refinance the bank loan the took out to purchase Liverpool.

Via Guardian 

Co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are not expected to issue a statement, but the deal is believed to be for another year and will involve them paying back £60m of the original debt.

Negotiations between the Royal Bank of Scotland, Wachovia and the owners have continued for months. There was a significant fear that the banks would call in the loan, while both Hicks and Gillett have searched for someone to take a minority stake in the club for around £100m to no avail.

The owners have reduced the £290m they owed to £230m, with £60m being repaid, half immediately.

Hicks, 63, and Gillett, 70, purchased Liverpool in 2007 for £174m, taking on £44.8m of liabilities.

At the time they maintained that financing the debt would not fall on the club. But that attitude changed, and Liverpool now have to find around £40m a year to service the debt, a situation that has enraged fans’ groups and impacted on the transfer budget of the manager, Rafael Benítez.

The owners have also failed to find the money to build the club’s new stadium, with preliminary work on the Stanley Park venture halting during last season.

In the run-up to the new deal being concluded, Gillett has sold his 80% stake in the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club for $580m (£350m), while Hicks is trying to offload the Texas Rangers baseball team.

It is Hicks who has seemingly experienced most difficulty in coming up with financial backing of late, and he recently defaulted on interest payments on a $515m (£312m) loan in the States recently.

Prior to the current credit crunch, loans of the size Hicks and Gillett took for Liverpool would be expected to refinanced over three or five years. But City sources doubt this new deal would be for more than a year in the current climate.

Image via LovelyMoney