It seems that every football team from the English Premier League has a Middle Eastern invester waiting in the wings to make an offer and Portsmouth now has two it seems. Â
The English and Arabic media has been reporting today that Saudi businessman Ali al-Faraj, a property investor with a personal holding in petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), is believed to be on the verge of buying a stake in the club from the Dubai-based entrepreneur, Sulaiman al-Fahim.
You’d think that with the losses SABIC were making earlier this year the last thing a shareholder of the company would want to do was invest in relegation fodder like Portsmouth. The $315 million goodwill impairment charge SABIC had to shell out for GE Plastics will look like spare change after a couple of seasons in charge at Fratton Park – especially if they re-employ legendary spendthrift Harry Redknapp as the manager.Â
And while we’re on the subject of football teams, ArabianOilandGas.com would like to take this opportunity to inform Saudi Aramco that Newcastle United is another club currently looking for a new owner. Surely the world’s largest company must have a spare billion or two to spend on such a worthy cause?
If anyone has any information about Mr al-Faraj’s prospective investment in Portsmouth please drop us an email. Also if anyone else wants to urge Aramco to buy Newcastle please leave a comment. The bandwagon starts here.Â
