Qatar Sports Investments is looking at restructuring its investment into Paris Saint-Germain but remains committed to the French club amid interest in buying Spanish team Malaga.
It comes amid a group led by Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani joining the bidding process to buy Manchester United. The Glazers have pushed back their deadline to complete a sale of the club with the ownership situation at Old Trafford still unclear.
To avoid a conflict of interest, Qatar are hopeful of buying Manchester United through a different investment fund not linked to QSI – which is also eyeing the move for struggling Spanish second tier club Malaga.
A Qatari delegation, representing but not including Sheikh Jassim, were at United’s facilities for 10 hours on Thursday – much longer than anticipated – as they were obtaining information on the club’s financial state and aiming to build relations. Talks have been described as positive and productive.
The Glazer family are exploring outside investment or a full sale of the club they bought 18 years ago. The Americans are deeply unpopular among the club's fans, with the Red Devils having gone a decade without winning the Premier League title.
Two bids are known to have been made for a full takeover, with the group led by Al Thani battling British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The soft deadline for bids closed last month, though a public statement on the situation is yet to be made by United. Both parties are meeting with the club this week to build relations and gain a greater understanding of the financing involved.
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Qatar’s hopes, through separate funds, of buying Manchester United and Malaga have somewhat inevitably led to a degree of concern among PSG fans that their commitment to the club may be in doubt. However, this does not appear to be the case.
QSI is open to selling a 20 percent stake in the club but as outlined by Diario AS, this is solely to increase and diversify investment into the club rather than them scaling back their own commitment of spending on PSG.
The French club are looking at building a new sports city of facilities which the ownership believes will make them more profitable and to generate more income. Located in Yvelines, in Poissy, the new facilities are aimed at creating a greater volume of youth graduates at the club.
They want to grow the capacity of their Parc des Princes stadium, but this has proven problematic as it is owned by the Paris city council. PSG are considering moving out of the stadium and buying the Stade de France – home of the French national team – and which has a much greater capacity than their current home.
In other words, QSI will not be reducing its investment into PSG but is aiming at moving more funds towards the club rather than the city council, from whom they are effectively renting from. The club believe the Parc des Princes will no longer be profitable should PSG withdraw.
Malaga are owned by Abdullah Al Thani – from the Qatari ruling family and a distant relative of Qatar's previous ruler Sheikh Hamad. Despite initial heavy investment into the Andalusian club after buying them in 2010 – including reaching the Champions League quarter-finals in 2012-13 – their fortunes have plummeted since.
Al Thani’s investment into the club dried up and they slid into chaos. They were relegated from La Liga in 2018 and appear to be set for another relegation this year, into Spain’s regionalised third tier – which could throw their very existence into question.
However, Malaga remain an attractive proposition to investors due to their history, fanbase and potential of being a one-team city. For any sale to be considered, Al Thani would have to deposit €9million to free-up the sale of 51 percent of the club’s shares.
This follows QSI meeting with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in London in January as they weighed up buying a minority stake in the north London club. Spurs are on the lookout for more investment with Levy facing growing discontent from Spurs fans.
Alongside owning 100 per cent of PSG, QSI has a 21.67 percent stake in Portuguese club Braga – widely recognised as the fourth biggest club in the nation – but it is hopeful of becoming an investor in another European club in continental competition, alongside at least one South American club.
QSI is thought to be owned by the Qatar finance ministry and the Qatar Olympic Committee. Nasser Al-Khelaifi is the chairman of QSI and president of PSG. He publicly confirmed four months ago that he was considering selling a minority share of PSG to new investors. QSI is not interested in a full sale of the club, but an unnamed American investment fund has been linked with buying 15 per cent.
