Mike Ashley is reportedly in talks with PCP Capital Partners to hand over ownership of Newcastle for around £300m as Project Zebra reaches conclusion.
The earlier speculation of the Newcastle United sale was code-named which at first was kept under wraps was code-named ‘Project Zebra’ because of the Newcastle black and white striped kit.
Although earlier speculation had the sale of the club estimated around £340m, the recent COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on football revenues and sports as a whole, has greatly impacted the value of the club bringing it down to around £300m.
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The deal that has been structured would see Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners taking a 10% stake in the club, billionaires Simon and David Reuben are to take the other 10% with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) taking the remaining 80% majority stake.
This venture into English football marks one of the many steps that Saudi Arabia has slowly begun entering into the world of sports and entertainment having hosted a number of high-level sporting events throughout 2019.
With the Premier League being one of the world top and most prominent football leagues, it is only natural the oil-rich nation would be looking to get their foot in the door of such a potentially profitable investment.
Amanda Staveley, who was born in Yorkshire and is currently married to Iranian -born Mehrdad Ghodoussi, has been linked to the sale of Manchester City to Sheikh Mansour in 2009.
She and her finance company PCP Capital Partners once tried a take over bid at Liverpool until the clubs £1bn evaluation tag had her walking away from the deal.
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This is also not her first time targeting Newcastle after initially trying to purchase the club from Mike Ashley in 2018.
The new owners are promising to inject some major and much-needed investment into the club once they take over ownership, hoping to transform the club into a Premier League powerhouse as was done with Manchester City
