Amanda Staveley taps ‘anti-Wall Street’ skills to woo Saudi elite | Financial Times:
Last October on the Red Sea, British financier Amanda Staveley and her husband stepped aboard the megayacht of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Also among the party were Yasir al-Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and global business chiefs including SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
This week one of the fruits of that trip became evident. Discussions on the yacht Serene helped revive an attempt led by the Saudi fund to buy the Premier League football club Newcastle United. Despite football being suspended in the coronavirus pandemic, an agreement was reached this week for a £300m purchase of the club from retail tycoon Mike Ashley. The talks were led by Ms Staveley, whose private equity firm will also invest.
The acquisition — Ms Staveley’s first with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — marks a return to high-profile dealmaking for a woman best known for orchestrating the purchase of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan in 2008, and shortly afterwards a £3.5bn Abu Dhabi investment as part of an emergency cash call by Barclays bank at the height of the financial crisis.
Last October on the Red Sea, British financier Amanda Staveley and her husband stepped aboard the megayacht of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Also among the party were Yasir al-Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and global business chiefs including SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.
This week one of the fruits of that trip became evident. Discussions on the yacht Serene helped revive an attempt led by the Saudi fund to buy the Premier League football club Newcastle United. Despite football being suspended in the coronavirus pandemic, an agreement was reached this week for a £300m purchase of the club from retail tycoon Mike Ashley. The talks were led by Ms Staveley, whose private equity firm will also invest.
The acquisition — Ms Staveley’s first with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — marks a return to high-profile dealmaking for a woman best known for orchestrating the purchase of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan in 2008, and shortly afterwards a £3.5bn Abu Dhabi investment as part of an emergency cash call by Barclays bank at the height of the financial crisis.
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