LONDON: Manchester City agreed Monday to a takeover by a United Arab Emirates business group, ending former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s brief ownership of the Premier League club.
The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment will now look at the club’s accounts and contracts before a takeover is completed. The group reached agreement late Sunday night with Thaksin, board member Sulaiman Al Fahim, who brokered the deal, told The Associated Press. It is believed to be worth up to 200 million pounds ($360 million; 247 million euros).
Thaksin will retain a minority stake and remain on the board as honorary president without any administrative responsibilities, Al-Fahim said. The club said in a statement that a “memorandum of understanding” has been signed and the deal is subject to a due diligence, allowing investors to request information from Man City and the Premier League.
Financial terms were not immediately available, but the UAE group described it as a “huge takeover” which gives the consortium “all the management rights.” Thaksin, who bought Man City last June, had his assets frozen and fled to Britain last month to escape corruption charges in Thailand, claiming that he couldn’t be assured of a fair trial. Al-Fahim — chief executive of Abu Dhabi-based developer Hydra Properties — reached the deal at the Abu Dhabi Emirates Palace Hotel with Thaksin and Khalid Kadfour Al-Muhairy, the legal chief of the Emirates Group. Al-Fahim said the group was attracted to the “richest European competition with more than $3 billion revenue.”