LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) - American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks are close to sealing their 470 million pound takeover of Liverpool.

The two National Hockey league team owners are expected to make an announcement within the next couple of days after further progress on the deal was made on Monday.

The London Stock Exchange could be told as soon as Wednesday that chairman David Moores has agreed to sell his majority shareholding to the Americans.

Gillett, who owns the NHL´s Montreal Canadiens, joined forces with Hicks, owner of the NHL´s Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers baseball team, to trump rival bidders Dubai International Capital last week.

Arrangements over the future of Liverpool´s new stadium appear to have clinched the deal. Not only has Hicks built up a reputation for developing state-of-the-art stadia for his teams, but the duo have now guaranteed that Liverpool´s new Stanley Park ground would not be shared with other teams.

In Gillett´s original approach, when he was considering a solo takeover, he had indicated he wanted a ground-share arrangement to cut costs and maximise income.

Hicks and Gillett will split the 470 million cost of taking over the club on a 50-50 basis, with around 255 million going to buy the shareholding and take over the 80 million debt, and a further 215 million on the stadium.

When the takeover goes through it will mean Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa are all in American hands.

Malcolm Glazer, owner of American football´s (NFL) Tampa Bay Buccaneers, owns United and Randy Lerner, owner of NFL´s Cleveland Browns, bought Aston Villa last year.