Newcastle & the Saudi Arabia takeover
The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund appear to be course to complete their takeover of Newcastle United.
Should the deal receive the green light from the Premier League, Mike Ashley will sell the Magpies for 300 million pounds.
Once ratified, the Saudis are expected to acquire an 80% stake at Newcastle United.
Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brother are each set to own 10% of the club.
Bander Bin Mogren appointment positive sign
On Tuesday, the Newcastle United takeover appeared to inch closer.
That’s after new documentation was served to the UK’s Companies House revealed that the chief operating officer of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund – Bander Bin Mogren – has been appointed as a director of the NCUK investment vehicle through which the Newcastle takeover is being handled.
The Guardian report:
NCUK Investment is a shell company established in January by Yasir al-Rumayyan, the director of the PIF, as a vehicle to facilitate the transfer of shares from Newcastle’s current owner Mike Ashley.
Bin Mogren is expected to join the St James’ Park board and it is significant the documents were registered on 9 April as that is the date it is believed the Premier League began applying the owners’ and directors’ test to the consortium behind the takeover.
The chief operating officer at Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund PIF, Bander Bin Mogren, just made a director of the NCUK investment vehicle through which the Newcastle takeover is being done. That deal creeps closer…
— Murad Ahmed (@muradahmed) April 28, 2020
Bander Bin Mogren is also a Director of the Gulf International Bank. This appears to be the financial intermediary vehicle for a lot of PIF transactions. They have various pledges/agreements with international banks. May well be setting up for transfer of funds.
— Shell 🐚⚽️🖤 (@RedRoseMichelle) April 28, 2020
Bander Bin Mogren has been listed as a Director of NCUK Investment Ltd.
Mogren is currently the Chief Operating Office at PIF.
He is listed alongside Yasir Alrumayyan & Vincent Cheshire. All showing as appointed on April 9th 2020.#NUFC | Companies House pic.twitter.com/Zhj69SwzwB
— NUFC HQ (@NUFC_HQ) April 28, 2020
The Edelman PR Company
Not everyone is happy about the Newcastle United takeover.
That includes Hatice Cengiz, the fiancé of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who ramped up legal pressure on the Premier League to stop the deal on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Qatar, and BeIN Sports specifically, are also unhappy about the likely Saudi takeover.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been political rivals for years, while this has played out in the sporting arena as Saudi company BeoutQ stands accused of piracy and infringing the broadcasting rights of Qatar’s BeIN Sports.
Within this Qatar-Saudi rivalry framework, New York Times reporter Tariq Panja flagged up an interesting point on Tuesday.
He’s revealed that the Edelman comms company – who Wikipedia note it is the largest public relations firm in the world by revenue since 2018 – previously worked for BeIN Sports in their efforts to shutdown BeoutQ, however they are now helping the Saudis in their Newcastle buyout.
Funny that given beIN's piracy complaint appears to be the one issue that threatens the deal from being signed off by the Premier League
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) April 28, 2020
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