There’s news today of a multi-billionaire who has remained in the running to buy Newcastle United.
Nasser Al-Kharafi - still keen on buying Newcastle United
But the Arab billionaire is not really a new bidder, since we reported back on 18th September that Nasser Al-Kharafi, 65, was initially interested in buying Newcastle United.
As the world’s 48th richest man in the most recent Forbes Billionaires List, and the 4th richest Arab, and worth around $14B (around £8.2B), the 65-year-old Kharafi is Chairman of Al Kharafi & Sons. Nasser Al Kharafi puts fast food on plates across the entire Middle East, and his company controls the exclusive Arab franchises for KFC, Wimpy, TGI Fridays, Cadbury’s, Pizza Hut and Saint Cinnamon.
The family also owns a lucrative 30% stake in Atheer Telecom, which owns a mobile license for Southern Iraq, and in early October he purchased more shares in Mobile Telecommunications Corporation (Zain), through one of its units.
But let’s say that we don’t know if this story has any truth in it, but it’s making the rounds a second time, so maybe there is some truth in it after all.
Sources in the Middle East have confirmed Al-Kharafi’s bid team has received the four-page document for buyers, which was prepared by the Newcastle United club and investment bank Seymour Pierce.
The source says that Al-Kharafi was interested last month when Newcastle were first put up for sale and still remains interested:
They added:
“He cannot comment on any deal because he has signed the confidentiality agreements which bind all interested parties. But he has the money to make it work.”
Back in September after Ashley’s failed trip to the Middle East, an intermediary for Al-Kharafi had said:
“Nasser Al Kharafi has the money to buy the club, but the way Mike Ashley is going about things is wrong. He is actually putting off any interested buyers with the price and his refusal to negotiate. If he genuinely wants to sell he is going about it the wrong way.”
“At the last estimate Nasser was worth around $12B (about £7B), but he still won’t pay over the odds for the club. Mr. Ashley seems to think he can ask what he wants because he is dealing with people who are multi-billionaires, but that simply isn’t the case. As things stand he will be returning to England without a buyer.”
The only difference seems to be he is now the 46th richest person in the world, and worth $2B more than he was then - but what’s a couple of billion between friends?
We think Al-Kharafi could be a serious buyer, since the two statements are at least consistent, and nobody seems to have denied this one. But every one that is true, we’ll probabaly get five that are not, so we have to be careful with some of these stories.
But if there’s truth to this one, that has to be good news.
Comments welcome.
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51 responses so far ↓
1 Spyro - Taylor is garbage // Oct 10, 2008 at 21:51
Haven’t missed anything then, have i?
The same old nonsense press spewing the new, or recycled name of some billionare who probably hasn’t even heard of us. This whole saga is taking far too long to come to it’s long overdue conclusion.
Are we an episode of Lost, or maybe even Melrose Place in disguise? Boring
2 Mark Dixon // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:08
Id much prefer this fella rather than the Nigerian & South african deligations.
Anything simialr to Man Citys new owners with the same mindset would be nice…
Thank you please
3 Ausgeordie // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:30
I think we all want to see an owner who has his own competitive streak and wants to win games and trophies. Someone who will do whatever it takes even if its just for bragging rights with his mates at the cigar club.
4 sean667 // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:37
im so tired of dis sh*t, he ain`t gonna sell before jan so no new players…………bollox this is a sorry mess
5 sean667 // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:39
we need to remember the spuds spent loads and look where they are
6 hitman // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:41
bring it on,got to be better than ashley.
7 Disillusioned // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:42
Sounds like more wishful thinking if you ask me, which you probably didn’t but here’s my opinion anyway!
I’m beginning to wonder whether Ashley is really trying to sell the club or not. I mean basically you would be mad to try and sell a house for a profit at the moment so is this just a way of getting supporters back to the acceptance of, we’re stuck with you and he’s stuck with us for the time being.
The inevitable non-funding of transfers at the opening of the January window would simply follow on from the current business plan of make more than you spend that Ashley has already displayed.
Which would mean selling more players to bring in more under-experienced and cheaper players, that would (before people start getting on my back about building for the future) mean selling the experienced favoured players for an over inflated price, Obafemi?
I’m so sick of this…….Ashley, be realistic, drop your price make a couple of million and walk away.
However, back to the subject at hand, I’m not sure that the chicken king of Iraq is the best solution for our club either, do we want to be treated like a Macdonalds franchise? It’s not like westernised fast food is the most lucrative and safe commodity in the middle east!
8 hitman // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:45
comment 7,the bloke is from kuwait not iraq,hes a multi billionare,so he has savvy.
9 micknufc // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:46
god this whole thing’s killing me now..limbo!
can’t even see out happening any time fast either. the 17th before we find out…..not much.
10 Ganiyu // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:48
Good news ed
11 Disillusioned // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:51
Hitman, sorry I was being facetious, I realise the middle east is a big place but the resoning remains the same!
12 hitman // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:51
mick the club could of been sold by now,but ashleys asking price is putting people off,the twat should be happy to walk away with what he put in,but no the greedy twat wants a profit.
13 Paul // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:52
We haven’t been linked with Kim Jong-il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Fidel Castro yet, but we probably will be before all this is over.
14 hitman // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:57
ashley hasnt got the toon at heart,the twat is a southerner with no click to the toon,he just wants to make a profit out of the toon,to all the ashley backers on here you make me sick.
15 IrishMan // Oct 10, 2008 at 22:58
Can anybody tell me what happened to the prospect of a fan share buy-out of club that people were trying to organise a few weeks ago? I realise it is a long shot, but with world-wide interest from fans and a few potential heavy hitting share-holders, why couldn’t it be an option still, especially as the liklihood to selling to one individual or a small consortium gets less as stock prices continue to fall?
16 micknufc // Oct 10, 2008 at 23:02
wey,he’s a greedy man! i think we all know that now.people saying it was his sole intention to make on us,well lets be honest will any of us humble fans ever know? nah we’ll not ! we will have to sit and sweat on whats happening to the thing that matters so much to us,but fu*k all to people like not just him,but the lot of these people buying clubs for fun.
the game is shagged!
17 irish_al // Oct 10, 2008 at 23:07
the quotes are from a source? not an individual, so they mean very little, also they are the identical quotes used weeks back, a non-story
18 micknufc // Oct 10, 2008 at 23:09
wel irish al,weve been had again ..not!
19 Tom_Toon // Oct 10, 2008 at 23:18
If we did get a new owner lets hope they bring in Temuri or Terim, not Keegan!
20 magpieranger // Oct 10, 2008 at 23:31
THE SALE IS FCUKING GOING TO BE DONE IN SECRET
WHEN MA BOUGHT THE TOON IT WAS OUT THE BLUE. WHEN HE SELLS IT WILL BE DONE PRIVATELY.
EVERYONE WILL SPECULATE BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO INFO, THE PAPERS WILL SPOUT SHITE, THE TV WILL SPOUT SHITE BUT THE FACT IS…..
UNTIL IT IS A DONE DEAL ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE OFFICIAL SITE IS FULL OF SH!TE….
PAKI THIS, INDIAN THIS, SOUTH AFRICAN THIS, NIGERIAN THIS, KFC THIS..
BUT
VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW AND THOSE THAT DO ARE NOT GOING TO GO PUBLIC BUT NUFC IS V.CLOSE TO BEING SOLD. and maybe its a case of the devil you know…..
21 clever-toon-lad // Oct 10, 2008 at 23:38
magpieranger how do u know the club is very close to being sold??
22 Tom_Toon // Oct 11, 2008 at 0:02
…
23 Disillusioned // Oct 11, 2008 at 0:07
Magpieranger….. I really don’t like your tone sir!!!! I believe the term is pakistani, the way you use it is disparaging and slightly offensive. Please curb your language, we are all frustrated but lets not lower the tone to common racism.
24 toonoot // Oct 11, 2008 at 0:28
Diso: Get a life man!
25 micknufc // Oct 11, 2008 at 0:40
anybody wanting a bit crack a boo the lads,afore wor lass gets in?
26 skin d // Oct 11, 2008 at 1:02
i agree with disillusioned in the sense that he does not want to sell the club.
i think the b#####d wants a situation where us as fans are actually begging him to stay the longer this mess goes on.
27 micknufc // Oct 11, 2008 at 1:13
well if he said “lets start again,th coin is still there” who would fancy it..sorry who would just go along with it?..the more i look at the whole thing,i reckon shy??? mike knows he can sit this out.im sure that’s what he’s doing
28 Lokes // Oct 11, 2008 at 3:11
http://www.rivals.net/news/pgarticle.aspx?artid=13546_4298020&id=21
I peffer this!
29 seetow // Oct 11, 2008 at 7:17
what happened to the indian anil ambani?
30 Toon Graeme // Oct 11, 2008 at 7:58
More speculation - I agree with other comments on here that we aint gonna know a thing. If reports are true that suggest that confidentially clauses have been signed then we wont know a thing until the deal is done.
Sorry lads but just sit back and wait and see what happens - if anything this side of 2009!
31 Bill B // Oct 11, 2008 at 8:16
The details of the club’s financial status along with the confidentiality papers have (supposedly) been handed out to potential bidders who are all wealthy businessmen. How long does it take for experienced businessmen with their resources to analyse the details and decide whether or not it’s a good investment? Surely by now one of them should have made a bid or announced they are declining? Maybe Ashley is having a fit of pique and “teaching us a lesson!”
32 magpieranger // Oct 11, 2008 at 8:55
Disillusioned your a tool sir.
I am not racist and fail to see how the word paki can be offensive.
Paki’s come from Pakistan much the same way Aussie’s come from Australia or an Argie comes from Argentina.
Are you offended when someone calls you a Geordie? or does it have to be preceded with “fat, drunken, jobless..” ?
Are you offended when you are called a Brit?
Get a life sir before I do start getting offensive.
33 Ageordiedoonsooth // Oct 11, 2008 at 8:58
I hope this is true but I think we will be stuck with Ashley for a long time yet
34 jules // Oct 11, 2008 at 9:33
I think you are all worrying about things out of our control. Every deal including transfers MA does in secrecy. The press have definately calmed down this week. there is nothing to make up let alone report. They have nothing.
Just wait and lets see what happens and this applies to everything including whether KK will come back.
It is all speculation, just get behind the team. Good show at Everton, the more confidence they have the better the results, better the opportunity to sell and a better chance we will weather the storm.
35 Frankieboy // Oct 11, 2008 at 9:38
Can we actually believe anything as regards the sale of the club.
It seems to me MA has fabricated a no. of buyers to up the stakes which seems to have fooled few given he has just extended the deadline for bids. Could it be his arse is starting to fall out. Of course the “confidentiality clause” adds to his “clandestine” operation to make a more unreasonable profit.
Lets hope this guy is the one and get some credibility back into the club.
I suspect i am not alone in this theory, apologies as discussed as not been on site for a while.
36 stuart // Oct 11, 2008 at 9:42
Where has this story come from?
I’m a bit sceptical of good news stories! We are hearing that the interested parties are falling by the wayside quicker than anything….
37 graeme // Oct 11, 2008 at 9:50
Its all fairly irrelevant, surely!!
NOTHING can be put into the public domain, by any of the parties involved as it would be a breach of the confidentiality agreement ALL involved players have had to sign.
Until MA and another party conclude an agreement to buy the club, everyone involved has to abide by the terms of the agreement or face certain legal action.
The first any of us will know, will be a formal statement by the two parties concerned that the sale of NUFC has been completed.
Until that formal announcement is made, chill, and enjoy life; there is nothing we can do.
38 Geordie Jayne // Oct 11, 2008 at 9:59
I think what a lot of fans are worried about is the length at which this is taking.
I do agree that if there was someone really truely after NUFC then they should be good and quick enough to get us, as they know they need to change things quickly.
The thing about secrecy and MA - He had to buy John Hall’s shares quickly and quietly to stop any objections from FFS, then it was out in the open quickly.
We all thought that the secrecy soundrounding the transfer delayings in the last window, was because Mike was a shrewed business man - but hey ho we were wrong.
I may be wrong here and it won’t be the first time, but I am getting more and more worried as time goes on. There is a true reality is that not only could we go down but the club could go bust.
Look where most of Ashley’s money comes from, shares, shares and shares.
39 Geordie Jayne // Oct 11, 2008 at 10:01
# surrounding lol
40 Paul from Korea // Oct 11, 2008 at 10:02
I just read something humorous in the internet press:
http://www.tribalfootball.com/?q=content/chelsea-owner-abramovich-loses-%C2%A312-billion-stock-market
Apparently, Abramovich lost a huge sum of money on the stock market. Just made my day.
41 Rich // Oct 11, 2008 at 10:09
getting bored with this, fast…
blue star anyone?
42 Will // Oct 11, 2008 at 10:23
@ GeordieJayne
I hope our pub gets wireless internet in too
43 Wallsend Will // Oct 11, 2008 at 10:38
A bit like transfer speculation, we hav’nt a clue! Let’s wait and see. I’m happy to wait until Xmas. Mind you if we get to the January transfer window, will Ashley provide Joe Kinnear with funds? Do we have a recruitment team? Is Dennis Wise still picking up his wages? Will we beat Man City?
44 BIGPEAOVTHEWEAB // Oct 11, 2008 at 11:31
we just need some 1 in very soon to steady the ship coz were on a rocky road to the championship at the moment
45 skin d // Oct 11, 2008 at 12:34
hope it is true ,howay nasser buy that fat prick oot!!!
46 skin d // Oct 11, 2008 at 12:44
i am an anti racist,but i can see where you are coming from.
if you come from uzbekistan,your an uzbek or an uzbeki.
when you call someone from pakistan a pakistanee ,it is actually longer than the word pakistan.
british becomes brit etc,i think it became offensive in the 80,s because of the far rights use of the word.
i do agree though the pc thing has gone mad, but the word in question is not offensive like the n word.
47 NUFC_Q8 // Oct 11, 2008 at 16:00
Greetings from Kuwait… All that I can say is that these rumors are all true… Mr Al Kharafi was interested and has been approached in the past.
Anyway, this guy is the head of Kuwait’s largest private financial conglomerates with a stake in everything from fast food to investments. He is known as a very shrewd business man but can be a loose cannon at times. Examples of this are a number of hostile takeovers of companies in the stock market.
Didn’t I mention that one of his sons is an avid NUFC fan? He was the link between Ashley and his father.
Let me be clear that he is NOT the cowboy that fans crave with millions to splash. He will never be the same as the owners of Man City because the guys there are notorious for the ’spend now, worry later’ mentality.
48 Piers // Oct 11, 2008 at 18:23
We need stability! Sell the club MA!
49 Loonytoon // Oct 11, 2008 at 19:19
It wouldnt surprise me if there are other secret talks in place. Something along the lines of giving exclusive deals to certain sports products or chain stores. Not a bad deal for bidders who help Ashley get more for the club or to delay the sale longer while he fills his pockes with that little bit extra.
I’m not saying this is happening you understand. Just wouldnt surprise me. As long as it all works out in the end.
50 toonfan // Oct 12, 2008 at 14:42
skin d, magpieranger….normally wouldnt respond to this type of thing but just gonna back u up on this one….am sick of all the PC nonsense, thats not to say the objector was wrong, just a little too quick to reply with the racist jibe….must admit i usually say asian, but really wtf does that mean ??? its a crazy situation innit, itll be unlawful soon to tell there was a geordie, scouser and cockney in a bar…jokes…were the hell does it stop…theres more important things to sort out…imo
51 toonfan // Oct 12, 2008 at 14:48
PS try and watch sarah silverman and movie “jesus is magic” for her take on pc correctness. talk about dark irony…lol
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