Tottenham Takeover Talk

[Bluto Blutarsky]

I posted last month about when the Qataris looked at us initially it was when Boris Johnson was trying to get them to invest in London and he tried to steal them in the direction of investing in the area.

Interestingly, and probably putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5, levy said in that programme last night that then next thing they want to build is the hotel and then there is a whole lot of this going to happen in the next 12 months which aren’t on the public domain yet. Maybe the chats with the Qataris are revisiting the property angle around the stadium and are actually nothing to do with investing in the club. Could be?

I’ve posted a few times that Qataris are majority owners of Canary Wharf Group, which I think is the largest property owner in London- so I can see their interest in being part of the property development around the stadium - hotel, housing and other

 

[wadewill]

Imagine we get massive oil funded backing

But none of it is spent on bloody football

 

[MightySpurs]

Imagine we get massive oil funded backing

But none of it is spent on bloody football

Don’t get more spursy than that

 

[Woodyy]

Knowing us we'll end up with a Chess Room instead

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Key part the Times article last night:

There have previously been meetings between Nasser Al-Khelaifi — the president of Paris Saint-Germain and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) as well as beIN Media Group — and Daniel Levy, the executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham denied the discussions with Al-Khelaifi were linked to either selling the club outright, the potential sale of a stake in the business or a naming-rights deal for the club’s state-of-the-art stadium. But it is understood that a meeting between Al-Khelaifi and Levy at the Fairmont Hotel in Doha during the World Cup was followed by further discussions in London last month, with the discussions part of the Qataris’ wider exploration of options for gaining a foothold in club football’s most revered and richest domestic league.

On Wednesday, Qatari sources insisted the talks with United were part of the same project, although it is not QSI involved in those discussions. Uefa rules would not allow the owners of PSG to have a controlling stake in another club in one of its European competitions, therefore meaning that QSI could not own United unless they suddenly decided to sell the French giants.

QSI is a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, the state-run sovereign-wealth fund, and therefore ultimately under the control of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Quite how another fund with a link to the Qatari royals could become the new United owner under those present Uefa regulations remains to be seen.

Manchester United takeover: Qatar has one week to bid for club

A fund linked to the Qatari royal family has expressed an interest in buying Manchester United, with a bid now under consideration before next week’s deadline

www.thetimes.co.uk

If this is true, it suggests the QSI talks with us are now very much dead now unless they are planning to somehow invest in multiple PL teams, which I doubt. If they were looking for multiple PL teams, it would be a disaster for us and English football as a whole.

As I said yesterday, when it comes to Qatar, Saudi etc, all of these entities are very much linked to the royal families and investment authorities.

 

[spursfan77]

Key part the Times article last night:

There have previously been meetings between Nasser Al-Khelaifi — the president of Paris Saint-Germain and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) as well as beIN Media Group — and Daniel Levy, the executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham denied the discussions with Al-Khelaifi were linked to either selling the club outright, the potential sale of a stake in the business or a naming-rights deal for the club’s state-of-the-art stadium. But it is understood that a meeting between Al-Khelaifi and Levy at the Fairmont Hotel in Doha during the World Cup was followed by further discussions in London last month, with the discussions part of the Qataris’ wider exploration of options for gaining a foothold in club football’s most revered and richest domestic league.

On Wednesday, Qatari sources insisted the talks with United were part of the same project, although it is not QSI involved in those discussions. Uefa rules would not allow the owners of PSG to have a controlling stake in another club in one of its European competitions, therefore meaning that QSI could not own United unless they suddenly decided to sell the French giants.

QSI is a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, the state-run sovereign-wealth fund, and therefore ultimately under the control of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Quite how another fund with a link to the Qatari royals could become the new United owner under those present Uefa regulations remains to be seen.

Manchester United takeover: Qatar has one week to bid for club

A fund linked to the Qatari royal family has expressed an interest in buying Manchester United, with a bid now under consideration before next week’s deadline

www.thetimes.co.uk

If this is true, it suggests the QSI talks with us are now very much dead now unless they are planning to somehow invest in multiple PL teams, which I doubt. If they were looking for multiple PL teams, it would be a disaster for us and English football as a whole.

As I said yesterday, when it comes to Qatar, Saudi etc, all of these entities are very much linked to the royal families and investment authorities.

Sounds like journalists are getting bits and pieces of info through and just trying to piece them together. I suspect the truth is somewhere inbetween. Maybe now the Qataris have realised the better way to get into the PL is go a different route that through QSI.

 

[spursfan77]

For clarity, the QIA are who hold the major investments in London. They are the country’s other investment vehicle. I think they’d have a hard time explaining to UEFA that they were a completely different owner to PSG.

This article explains what they own and why thanks to Sadiq Khan they have looked away from London as a place to invest.

Questions over Qatari review of London investment

Qatar won't sell its prize London real estate "under any circumstances", market sources have told Property Week, after the Gulf state said this week that it was reviewing current and future investment in the capital.

www.propertyweek.com

Spoiler

Transport for London (TfL) last week banned Qatari advertisements from the capital’s underground, buses and taxi networks, a move sparked by concerns over the World Cup host country’s LGBT+ policies and human rights records.

Qatar is one of the largest investors in London through its $450bn (£374.9bn) sovereign wealth fund. A source involved in the Qatari review of London investments told the Financial Times that the band had “been interpreted as a message from the mayor’s office that Qatari business is not welcome in London”.

But Ghanem Nuseibeh, co-founder of London-based consulting firm Cornerstone Global Associates, confirmed that a pause of Qatari investment in London was unlikely.


It needs London for financial and political reasons, not the other way round,” he said.

“Qatar invests and pays a premium for trophy assets, such as Harrods, and it would never dispose of these assets under any circumstances. It’s also almost impossible to dispose of such assets without incurring a significant loss.

“It invests for economic and political leverage – the recent threats undermine this, but in practice, it cannot afford to sell the assets.”

Andy Thompson, head of real estate for Bank of London and the Middle East, said Gulf states, including Qatar, are “all still very keen on the UK market”.

He added: “Both London and Qatar are important for each other. While it’s very hard to say what will happen [with the investment review], it would be for the best for both to keep the status quo.

“I anticipate more investment from Qatar in future, and that’s absolutely a good thing as it keeps the market liquid.”

In 2019, TfL banned adverts from 11 countries due to poor human right records and anti-LGBT+ laws. This moved to a total ban on Qatari advertising last week following a new wave of criticism of the FIFA World Cup host.

The Qatari investment review source said London mayor Sadiq Khan had contacted Qatar’s tourism authority and Q22, the body overseeing the World Cup, to inform them of the ban.

In response, Qatar Investment Authority said it was “reviewing current and future investments” in the UK’s capital and is “considering investment opportunities in other UK cities and home nations”.

The source said TfL’s advertising ban was considered “another blatant example of double standards and virtue signalling” at a time when “other investors are pulling out of London due to economical instability”.

The Qatar Investment Authority owns nearly 23m sq ft of property in the UK including the Shard, Harrods in Knightsbridge, Chelsea Barracks and Grosvenor House hotels.

It also co-owns Canary Wharf, and holds a 20% stake in Heathrow airport and a 14% stake in Sainsbury’s.

 

[wadewill]

Sounds like they have moved on from us then, at least we can go back to having a high and mighty conscience

 

[Tucker]

Sounds like they have moved on from us then, at least we can go back to having a high and mighty conscience

Some of us never sold our soul in the first place. ?

 

[greaves]

Some of us never sold our soul in the first place. ?

In Mephistopheles we trust.

 

[Tucker]

In Mephistopheles we trust.

I’ve not seen “Cats.”

 

[spursfan77]

Relevant thread



Saudi Arabia also expected to bid.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Any chance of QSI investing in us is basically dead if Qatar invest in Utd.

 

[PCozzie]

In Mephistopheles we trust.

Is he a LCB? You Tube link?

 

[spursfan77]

Any chance of QSI investing in us is basically dead if Qatar invest in Utd.

The whole thread goes into a bit more explanation though why that might not be the case, worth posting it all?

 

[Colonel Dax]

Utd with Qatari/Saudi backing will become an unstoppable juggernaut.

Bad news for us. Bad news for football.

 

[spursfan77]

Jacobs is doing a spaces on Twitter now.

He says it’s all pretty premature as nobody has bid yet for Man U. Deadline in 17 feb.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

The whole thread goes into a bit more explanation though why that might not be the case, worth posting it all?

Honestly the whole thread backs up what I said imo.

Regardless of whether it's QSI, QIA or a 'private fund', any takeover of Utd by a Qatari based fund will end any interest from QSI investing in Spurs.

 

[BedfordshireSpud]

It seems to me that all the bigs clubs will have foreign investment owners soon just to be able to compete. To an extent they will cancel each other out as prices for players, etc increase. It just seems like a super league by another name when they will be able to dictate terms or pull away. Money will always seek to control and act like a monopoly or oligopoly if allowed. No doubt there is an advantage in being one of the first to get the funding.

 

[greaves]

Is he a LCB? You Tube link?

Dark web.