Leeds United

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TOMA dept. proudly presents. again. :

Linx Group eye Leeds
By Jose N Franco Jr

17 May 2007


DUBAI — A consortium headed by Shaikh Samir A S Mirdad, chairman of the Linx Group of Companies which has been involved in various multi-billion-dirham projects, is presently considering acquiring Leeds United, an English football club that is now under voluntary receivership and has debts of Dh145.7 million (£20 million).


"Leeds United is a very prestigious football club that has unfortunately in the recent past suffered setbacks. My vision is to bring the club back to its former glory," Shaikh Mirdad told Khaleej Times yesterday. "The club has a huge fan base and because of the history of the club and desire of the people of Leeds to see Leeds United back in top flight premiership football, we think this may be the ideal challenge for us."

Legal experts at Allen & Overy, a leading international corporate law firm that also has offices in Dubai, said the process of acquisition would take not more than two months once the parties concerned had agreed on commercial terms including the price, the management to lead the club, and future development plans of the club.

Pervez Akhtar, partner at Allen & Overy, is the lead counsel for the consortium that Shaikh Mirdad heads in negotiations with Leeds United officials. Allen & Overy has advised on a number of acquisitions of premiership clubs including the purchase by Malcolm Glazer and his family when they acquired the British premiership title-holder Manchester United in 2005. It was also involved in the sale of Liverpool Football Club more recently. Glazer also owns the American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers based in Florida.

Shaikh Mirdad said he would be travelling to the city of Leeds, England next week to meet with Ken Bates, chairman of Leeds United Football Club Ltd, and other officials to begin formal talks on various issues such as the price and management matters. "We're going to see it and, depending on the outcome of our negotiations, we will seriously consider the proposal," he added.

Should the deal push through, Shaikh Mirdad, would be the first Gulf national to acquire a European football club through a business consortium.

He said that he may also be meeting with the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Mohammed Iqbal, to impress upon him and the people of Leeds that the consortium Shaikh Mirdad heads shares their value and aspirations.

"I am very passionate about football, and I want to help a lot of other people who share this passion," said Mirdad, who revealed that he is friends with a number of European football stars, officials, and football legends. "My intentions should follow the blessing and vision that would be shared between me, Chairman Bates and the people in Leeds."

He said it is important that the people of Leeds and the fans of Leeds United would be happy about the planned acquisition, which could lead to having a bigger stadium and drawing up a comprehensive five-year expansion plan for the club. "There's a lot of potential for the club," he stressed.

Mirdad said Leeds United administrators-Richard Fleming, Mark Firmin and Howard Smith, of KPMG Restructuring-would be meeting by the end of this month on administration matters including the process in which the acquisition would be done. He added that the club resorted to voluntary receivership to assess their financial standing.

[Martin]

A consortium headed by Shaikh Samir A S Mirdad, chairman of the Linx Group of Companies which has been involved in various multi-billion-dirham projects, is presently considering acquiring Leeds United, an English football club that is now under voluntary receivership and has debts of Dh145.7 million (£20 million).

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