Dubai investors told: Newcastle is yours for $860mn

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is seeking a staggering $860 million to sell his club to Dubai investors, Arabian Business has learned.

The figure - more than double what Ashley has invested in the club - is contained in documents handed to representatives of Dubai’s Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum earlier this week.

The documents are currently being studied in greater detail, and it is understood that a takeover offer at a "much lower" price could be made.

Both Dubai-based Zabeel Investments - which is building an eco-friendly hotel with Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt - and Dubai Investment Group, part of Dubai Holding, are being considered to front any deal.

However, Zabeel Investments chairman Mohammed Ali Al-Hashimi stressed that he had not been directly approached over any takeover deal.

"We have not had any contact," he told Arabian Business. "I am not interested in any [English Premier League club] right now."

Ashley bought the club in May last year, but Newcastle fans have been calling for him to sell the club following the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan last week.

In a statement on Sunday night, Ashley announced he was selling the club, saying: "I paid $238 million out of my own pocket for the club. I then poured another $195 million into the club not to pay off the debt, but just to reduce it.

"The club is still in debt. Even worse than that, the club still owes millions of pounds in transfer fees. I shall be paying out many more millions over the coming year to pay for players bought by the club before I arrived."

According to the sale documents, Ashley wants to recoup his entire investment, plus take a massive profit.

"That price is just too much for this club, but we will see what happens and what offer can be made," a source close to the talks told Arabian Business.

Last year Al-Hashimi revealed that Zabeel Investments had been part of the Dubai-led consortium that failed to buy Liverpool Football Club in February 2006.

The Dubai-based diversified investment company is focused on the areas of commercial real estate development and management, private equity and asset management across a wide range of economic sectors in the UAE.

Dubai Investment Group is part of Dubai Holding, it has invested in capital markets and real estate in the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia. Both companies are owned by Dubai’s Ruler Sheikh Mohammed.

The club was not immediately available for comment.