AMERICAN-based businessman Daniel Williams is believed to be the man spearheading a consortium looking to buy Blackburn Rovers - although the club last night insisted a takeover deal is NOT imminent.

Rovers are staying tight-lipped over speculation in yesterday's Sunday People newspaper that Williams, with the assistance of former Blackburn director Walter Hubert, is preparing to launch a £67million takeover bid.

However, a statement that was on Williams' company website appeared to confirm that the former Cambridge graduate is one of the parties interested in buying out the Walker Trustees.

The website for DJW Ventures, Williams' venture capital business, referred to the Spring 2007 acquisition of Blackburn Rovers for over $100,000,000' as being DJW's highest profile and also most significant investment' to date.

Rovers insist they will not make any comment on specific individuals' looking to buy the club, and a spokesman last night added they do not intend making any further statements until or unless they enter into a period of due diligence or open the books for one of the interested parties.

But a deal is not believed to be imminent, and the Williams consortium is only one of several groups from both Britain and abroad thought to be interested in launching a takeover.

Nevertheless, Williams seems to be a serious player, and the fact he is a boyhood Rovers fan, who originally hails from Lytham St Annes, will win the approval of the club's supporters.

Williams is reported to be the brains behindAmerican-based Nuttall Investments, a company he named after the street which runs by Ewood Park.

According to the article in the Sunday People, Williams is said to be selling his investment groups to raise the cash and fulfill his dream of owning his favourite team.

The New Jersey-based entrepreneur is also thought to have enlisted the help of Hubert, a former director at Rovers during the 1960s and 1970s, as part of his bid to buy Rovers.

Hubert had a couple of spells on the Rovers board and was even appointed vice-chairman in January 1971, although pressure of his business interests compelled him to resign exactly 12 months later.

He was deputy chairman and joint managing director of Blackburn-based scrap metal business Tom Martin and Co Ltd., a company set up by his father, Arthur, in 1948, which was later sold for several million pounds.

The 75-year-old is now thought to reside in London, but he remains a keen Rovers supporter and attended several games last season.