Newcastle United owners PIF are set to oversee a major change to their portfolio.
The Public Investment Fund have injected huge sums of money into various different industries in recent years, with Newcastle United benefiting from their venture into the world of football.
The PIF takeover of Newcastle United went through in October 2021, with Yasir Al-Rumayyan and co buying the club from Mike Ashley for £305million.
Since then, PIF have become the owners of four more clubs, all of which compete in the Saudi Pro League. However, that number is set to decrease from four to three.
What changes in the atmosphere at SJP have you noticed since the takeover?
PIF in talks to sell Al-Hilal
In June 2023, PIF became the majority owners of four Saudi Pro League clubs. It was announced that they owned 75% of Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli.
But one of those clubs is not going to be owned by PIF for much longer, with journalist Ben Jacobs providing an update on the goings on at Al-Hilal via his official X account.
According to Jacobs, talks are taking place for a private owner to take the Riyadh-based club away from PIF.
He wrote on X: “Understand Al-Hilal are advancing on a new private owner taking the club away from PIF’s control. Takeover been on the cards for a while.
“PIF was only meant to stabilise the club with a structured exit plan for when the right investor emerges. Al-Hilal are the closest PIF-owned club to a new owner. Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli are all on the same long-term trajectory, but nothing imminent in terms of a change of owner.”
Jacobs does not state who is in talks to take over at Al-Hilal. This story comes four months after it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal was in talks to buy the club from PIF.
What’s your take on Allan Saint-Maximin’s time under Eddie Howe?
What would PIF selling Al-Hilal mean for Newcastle United?
The short answer is nothing.
When it emerged that PIF were taking ownership of four clubs in Saudi Arabia, there were fears from outside of Newcastle United that it would create a loophole for Eddie Howe’s side to exploit.
That has not happened, with Newcastle doing just one deal with a PIF club since then. That saw Allan Saint-Maximin join Al-Ahli in the summer of 2023 for £23million.
If anything, PIF owning the four Saudi Pro League clubs has been a hindrance to Newcastle United. They have consistently bought players from the Magpies’ Premier League rivals, which has helped them improve their PSR position at a time when Newcastle have struggled to comply with the rules.
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