1

1

E-mail Article

Printer Friendly

Share Article

Zabeel is mystery Liverpool FC bidder

Zabeel Investments was part of the Dubai-led consortium that failed to buy Liverpool Football Club and was prepared to buy 20% of the business, it has emerged.

Mohammed Al Hashimi, executive chairman of Zabeel Investments and avid Liverpool fan exclusively revealed to Arabian Business that the private equity and investment business was planning to purchase 20% of the club if the deal went through in February earlier this year, while the remainder of the club would have been acquired by Dubai International Capital (DIC).
"Liverpool was an opportunity and you don't see opportunities like that come everyday but we have to move on," he said.

Al Hashimi refused to answer why the bid failed and added: "that question probably shouldn't be posed to me, it should be posed to the people who decided not to do the deal".

On February 6 it was announced that the Zabeel/DIC bid had failed. The club was instead bought for US$432.9m by Dallas businessman, Texas Rangers baseball team and National Hockey League Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks and his friend and Montreal Canadiens hockey team owner George Gillet. Liverpool is the third FA Premier League outfit to fall under US ownership alongside Aston Villa and Manchester United.

"Mr Hicks and Mr Gillet got a great deal on Liverpool and they'll do well," said Al Hashimi. "These people are businessmen, they know how to run sports clubs and institutions well. They're in the industry and they wouldn't have moved that fast to do a deal if they thought they couldn't make money out of it.

"I wish them the best of luck. I congratulated Liverpool FC CEO Rick Parry when they did the deal with the Americans. It's business, we move on. We continue to be good friends. He invited me to the Champions League Final against AC Milan. It was an interesting time but we have to move on," he added.

Since the failed bid speculation has mounted over which potential parties could bid for Arsenal Football Club. Asked whether he would look into investing in the north London team Al Hashimi refused to deny a future bid, and said that it was a "very profitable club" but that its board was "very reluctant to sell".

"A US gentleman recently purchased 10% of the club for US$65m, that makes the club worth US$650m, that's hefty. But it has ample real estate around the surrounding area and they've just redeveloped Highbury Square," he said.

"Think of what the existing shareholders at Arsenal paid and what their shares are worth now. Even the smaller clubs are being bought left, right and centre. But look at the Premiership, it's revenues are set to double next year, there must be something going on and money to be made.

"There's a reason why Showtime paid US$120m, these people aren't stupid. They're going to benefit, maybe not directly but from the amount of viewers or other areas," he added.

The former CEO and founder of Amlak Finance, who resigned from the company in March to concentrate on Zabeel, said that he would also consider investing in Amlak. "Of course they are a good investment but so are a lot of companies in Dubai. Amlak is a great investment, so is Tamweel, so is Emaar," he added.

No Comments