It looks like Abu Dhabi County as takeover looms
DERBY County appeared ro be on the brink of being taken over by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family as the Ashbourne News Telegraph went to press this week.
Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan would become one of the wealthiest owners in the Championship if he completes the purchase from current chairman and owner Mel Morris.
The 61-year-old, the mega rich cousin of Manchester
City owner Sheikh Mansour, is said to be on the cusp of taking the helm with talks at an advanced stage.
Morris has been looking for new investment for the past two years and is hopeful that will come from Derventio Holdings (UK) Limited, a company which appears to have been registered for the purpose of the takeover and with which Sheikh Khaled is listed as a “person with significant control”.
Morris is expected to step aside if the deal goes through – but could stay on in a consultancy role.
The deal has yet to be approved by the EFL.
The United States-educated and Dubai-based sheikh’s money has snowballed since setting up the Bin Zayed Group in 1988 to deal in everything from construction and energy to technology and financial services.
The Abu Dhabi royal family’s net worth was put at £118bn in 2018.
Sheikh Khaled’s personal fortune is not widely reported.
In comparison, Stoke
City’s owners, the Coates family, had their worth put at £7.166bn in the Sunday Times Rich List for 2020. That was 16th in the UK, up £310m and three places from 2019 on the back of the continued success of bet365.
Barnsley owners International Investment Consortium, headed by
Chien Lee, have a reported net worth of £6.9bn, although how this is totted up has never been particularly clear.
Another wealthy owner is £5.2bn Dejphon Chansiri with Sheffield Wednesday and Stephen Lansdowne has £1.87bn at Bristol City.
The Queens Park Rangers board is not short of cash either. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who topped the Sunday Times Rich List in 2012, has an 11% holding in QPR.
Co-owner Airasia boss Tony Fernandes is said to have a £580m.
The devil, however, is in the detail.
Championship clubs are permitted so make net losses of £39m every three seasons, which limits any huge investment regardless of the owner’s bank balance.