Zabeel: Charlton deal 'opened up a Pandora's box'
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Dubai's Zabeel Investments said on Tuesday that the timing of the global financial crisis and excessive media speculation had deterred it from buying a British soccer club.
Zabeel, which last year tried to buy Liverpool, called off a proposed takeover of English (Championship) second division club Charlton Athletic in October.
"The timing wasn't right and post that, all of a sudden it opened up a Pandora's box," Mohammed Ali Al-Hashimi, executive chairman of Zabeel Investments told the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit on Tuesday.
"People were talking about foreign ownership ... every other day we spent time denying this club and that club and it became out of control. We are used to doing things relatively under the radar and our focus became having to keep an eye on what was being written in the media."
Al-Hashimi said that they had looked to buy Charlton Athletic, a second division side, because Premiership clubs were overvalued.
He added that Zabeel would look at lower-profile opportunities without specifying if it would look at buying British soccer clubs in the future.
Al-Hashimi had told Reuters in September that his firm was no longer looking at soccer teams as valuations had risen.
Speculation has grown that Gulf Arab investors would look to emulate an Abu Dhabi-based group that took over Manchester City on Sept. 1 by buying into British soccer teams. (Reuters)
READERS' COMMENTS
MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM
TOP IN MIDDLE EAST SPORT
TOP MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS STORIES
ALSO IN MIDDLE EAST SPORT
LATEST MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS NEWS
- Banking & Finance: Dubai's Abraaj eyes property investments
- Banking & Finance: Emirates NBD launches bank’s new brand identity
- Transportation: Abu Dhabi Int’l Airport records 7% growth in Oct
- Retail: RTA to lease out last batch of retail outlets available on Red Line
- Transportation: Qatar to sign $25bn mega railway deal on Sunday - report
SHARE PRICE CHECK
RELATED STORIES
Zabeel Investments, Dubai
- Dubai's Zabeel cautious on foreign expansion
25 Jan '09 | News - Global crisis 'will sort men from boys' in Dubai real estate
5 Nov '08 | News




