Premier League - Group agree Portsmouth buyout

Eurosport - Wed, 03 Jun 12:47:00 2009

Abu Dhabi billionaire Sulaiman al-Fahim, and a group of other investors, have agreed a two-phase deal to buy Premier League club Portsmouth and are aiming to complete it by the end of the summer.

2008 Manchester City Sulaiman Al Fahim - 2

Fahim, a board member of the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment that bought Manchester City last year, told Reuters he would be travelling to England on Wednesday to conclude negotiations.

"We are doing the due diligence now and expect to complete the deal before the summer," he said.

The new owners could be in place by the start of the new season on August 15.

Portsmouth, who won the FA Cup in 2008, finished this season in 14th place, four places above the relegation zone.

The south-coast club's French-born owner Alexandre Gaydamak has been looking for a buyer since December.

The deal was being done with specialist international private equity and asset management firm Falcon Group, who will also invest, said Fahim, who would become the club's chairman.

Fahim declined to give a value for the deal, but said the price had been attractive because Portsmouth did not have huge debts like other clubs.

Portsmouth made losses of £16.66 million for the 2007-08 financial year despite winning the FA Cup for the first time in 69 years - their first major trophy since they won the league title in 1950.

But the club said when announcing its results in April that their deficit was nearly£7m less than the previous year and was optimistic the loss will be reduced again next year.

Immediate plans for a new stadium had already been shelved and instead Portsmouth previously said it would redevelop Fratton Park, their home since they were formed in 1898, by the 2011-12 season when it should hold an extra 10,000 fans.

Regarding stadium development Fahim added: "We plan to enlarge the stadium from 20,000 to 30,000 capacity and in the next phase we want to build a new stadium with 40,000 capacity".

The prospective owner has said he would focus on stabilising the club's current squad. Fahim will look to strengthen the team with talented English players and hoped to bring one of the UAEs' best players to the south coast.

Fahim added that the group had drawn up a shortlist of managers and would be looking at them soon. He declined to identify prospective candidates but said Sven-Goran Eriksson, sacked as Mexico coach in April, was not on the list.

The current Portsmouth manager Paul Hart took over from Tony Adams midway though last season.

Football, viewed as a high profile and glamorous industry, is being targeted for investment by Gulf Arab firms as Western investors tighten their belts in the global economic slowdown.

England's top flight, underwritten by domestic and global TV deals worth over a billion pounds, has become Europe's dominant league in the last decade with many of the world's best players earning huge salaries at the major clubs.

The United Arab Emirates is the world's third-largest oil exporter and the capital Abu Dhabi controls 90 per cent of the country's oil reserves.

Flush with petrodollars from soaring oil prices, Abu Dhabi has been investing abroad to diversify its economy.

Reuters

Comment 8 - 27 of 27

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  1. i just heard that Setanta are going bust, because they­ owe millions to the SPL and The Premier league for the­ stuff they have already shown and cannot afford to pay­ them...anyone heard anything about this???

    From nikthemadgreek, on Tue 9 Jun 6:04PM

  2. i just heard that Setanta are going bust, because they­ owe millions to the SPL and The Premier league for the­ stuff they have already shown and cannot afford to pay­ them...anyone heard anything about this???

    From nikthemadgreek, on Tue 9 Jun 6:02PM

  3. seems like becks2483 might be right...the rumours have­ already started about harry crawling back because of­ the money. i don`t know if he`d be welcome back or not,­ What do you guys & gals think?

    From nikthemadgreek, on Tue 9 Jun 12:55PM

  4. it's just like the pompey fans ASLEEP ­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    From RAYMOND P, on Mon 8 Jun 4:45PM

  5. don't just sit there like dummies

    ­ FIND OUT WHATS GOING ON

    From RAYMOND P, on Mon 8 Jun 3:50PM

  6. Just read what it says in the sun this morning­ it'll all end up in tears

    From RAYMOND P, on Sat 6 Jun 8:25AM

  7. Well considering Harry is one off the most disloyal­ managers in the game im sure when the money arrives (if­ it does) im sure he will go crawling back!

    From becks2483, on Fri 5 Jun 9:10PM

  8. has anyone heard that glen johnson might be going back­ to chelsea? if so what a huge lose for pompey

    From h.j.holland, on Fri 5 Jun 3:15PM

  9. BE WARNED

    IT WILL ALL END UP IN TEARS

    From RAYMOND P, on Thu 4 Jun 4:39PM

  10. This man was kicked out of manchester City for shooting­ his mouth off. If he had gunpowder for brains­ he
    would'nt have enough to blow his hat off

    From RAYMOND P, on Thu 4 Jun 4:17PM

  11. I think we should just wait and see what happens, it`s­ ok getting all excited about it just to get kicked in­ the teeth again. Us Pompey fans have been dissapointed­ so may times what with one thing or another we are sort­ of used to it now. We don`t let it get us down and we­ still get behind the team no matter what... win loose­ or draw, new owner or not, new manager or not, new­ stadium or not. PLAY UP POMPEY...

    From nikthemadgreek, on Thu 4 Jun 2:24PM

  12. He wil invest a lot as we there team badge is a Muslim­ emblem.......

    From Andrew, on Thu 4 Jun 2:20PM

  13. it will never happen . this guy just likes to get his­ name in the paper it'll all end in tears the mans a­ joker i feel
    so sorry for the pompey fans.

    Mancity­ till I die

    From RAYMOND P, on Thu 4 Jun 12:58PM

  14. I can't see the point of adding extra seats at­ Fratton unless there going to drop the price to get in.­ It costs more money to get in then at 17 other­ premership grounds. I know that i can afford to take­ the family anymore as it was costing near on 120 quid a­ game for the 3 of us. It's 35 quid to get in alone­ plus parking, programs, bovril, etc. We haven't­ even been filling the staduim at it's current­ capacity due to the economical downfall. Best thing he­ could do is build a world class staduim and then charge­ a sensible price to get in. I know it's the only­ way i'll be going back, unless of course we sign­ messi, ronaldo, torres, kaka(chance, lol)

    From Paul T, on Thu 4 Jun 9:59AM

  15. how many english clubs are owned by british owners?­ give it another 10 yrs and their wont be any english­ managers in the premiership either lol At least in­ Italy and Spain the clubs are owned by people from­ there.

    From Jaffa1978, on Wed 3 Jun 8:12PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    hahahahahaha go arabs! Muslim 4 ever!

    From chechenr, on Wed 3 Jun 8:06PM

  17. To yip,

    He is not involved in any way with Man City,­ he is not on the board there and he has no money­ invested in Man City!! He is on the board of the parent­ company that owns Man City and he helped them set up­ the deal to buy them from that Thai bloke and he has­ had no involvement since! Therefore he can buy or buy­ into any other club he likes, good news for all Pompey­ fans me thinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From SIMON, on Wed 3 Jun 7:21PM

  18. WELL, I KNOW A BLOKE, WHO KNOWS A BLOKE, AND HE SAYS­ THAT WHEN THEY WERE DRILLING TO BUILD THAT HOTEL NEXT­ TO FRATTON PARK THEY FOUND OIL, THATS WHY THIS GEEZER­ REALLY BOUGHT US, THE GAMES WILL BE HELD AT BRANSBURY­ PARK WITH OPEN TOP BUSES PARKED DOWN EACH SIDE TO BE­ USED AS STANDS. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST. LOL

    From eltinminer, on Wed 3 Jun 7:17PM

  19. WELL I ENVY PORTSMOUTH NOW.ITS THIER TIME NOW TO SIGN­ QUALITY PLAYER SINCE THE MONEY IS AVAILABLE

    From emmanuel e, on Wed 3 Jun 4:02PM

  20. oliverfuentes, I know what your saying. My main problem­ with the 2 club things is that they are in the same­ league which only proves this isnt a football­ thing.

    chelsea's owner loves football and the club­ and was the 1st billionaire to come in and do what he­ did. that was great for me as a chelsea fan but when­ its turning into most the league doing it it turns the­ whole league into a joke. Its not sour grapes by me as­ my team are still 1 of the richest and the biggest out­ of all them and are the only ones with an owner that­ isnt in it for a toy.

    anyway as I said, an owner­ having anything todo with 2 teams in the same country ­ never mind same division shouldnt be allowed

    From yip, on Wed 3 Jun 2:32PM
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