Ambani, Subrata Roy to compete with Chinese Govt. to buy Liverpool

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani and billionaire businessman Subrata Roy face competition from the Chinese Government in the battle to buy English Premier League club Liverpool.

The Indian business tycoons tabled their bid for Liverpool nine months after failing to buy a 51 per cent share in the Anfield outfit.

They join at least four other interested buyers including Chinese businessman Kenny Huang, who has already held talks about buying Liverpool's 237 million pounds debt off the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Huang, backed by the 209 billion pounds Chinese Investment Corporation, was favourite to replace unpopular American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

He is said to be backing boss Roy Hodgson with a 150 million pounds transfer kitty, The Sun reports.

But the Anfield auction is now wide open.

An insider said: "Some potential buyers have declared their interest but haven't tabled a bid, whereas Ambani and Roy have put their money on the table. At this stage Liverpool are happy to let everyone compete against each other to get the best possible deal."

Ambani, valued at around 12.5 billion pounds, while fellow billionaire Roy is head of the Sahara Group, which sponsored the India cricket team.

Hicks and Gillett valued Liverpool at 600 million pounds after Huang's interest emerged.