Middle East Investors Make Bid To Buy Portsmouth Football Club

A group of investors from the Middle East have made an offer to buy English football club Portsmouth, Arabian Business reported Sunday.

“The offer is there, we have the money and we are ready to do this, and the offer shows we have the funds to really rebuild this club again,” a member of the group told Arabian Business.

According to documents seen by the magazine, the investors have deposited funds totaling $20.4 million into an escrow account held by Dubai Bank on August 30. The identity of the investors has not been revealed.

Portsmouth football club, or Pompey as it is nicknamed, plays in the English second division league after being relegated from the Football League Championship in the 2011–12 season after entering administration due to mounting debts.

The club changed hands many times in the past few years. Recent owners include two businessmen from the Gulf: Sulaiman al-Fahim from the UAE and Ali al-Faraj from Saudi Arabia. Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai also owned the club twice before it entered administration.

Alarabiya