UAE investment in UK at risk over Man City ruling: reports

The United Arab Emirates has warned the government it could cancel billions of pounds of investment in the UK over the Premier League’s ruling against Manchester City, according to reports by Bloomberg and The Telegraph.

Emirati officials said “the Premier League’s actions” would “have an influence on the bilateral state relationship”, Bloomberg reported.

The Telegraph said the UAE is threatening to scrap billions of pounds of private investment for a hi-tech, Silicon Valley-style hub between Oxford and Cambridge. The Treasury said in March that up to £800m was available for land and infrastructure in the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor, which it described as the UK’s “Silicon Valley”.

The newspaper also reported that Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the Manchester City chairman, met Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, in Downing Street two weeks before the Premier League announced its decision.

Al Mubarak was group chief executive of Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, when in 2021 it committed £10bn to UK investment over five years in sectors including clean energy, infrastructure, technology and life sciences.

On Thursday, Downing Street said the guilty verdict against City is “serious”, after Andy Burnham, the prime minister, said he would be “really concerned” to see the club’s current owners sell up.

A spokesperson for the prime minister issued two clarifications of his position during the day.

Asked by the BBC earlier this week if he was worried about the current owners selling the club, Burnham said: “I would be really concerned to lose them. They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester. Obviously, the building of Manchester City into the global force that it is.”

Asked whether his dealings with the club would stand up to scrutiny, he said: “I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn’t just put into the Etihad and the campus around it but also into the city, but yes, of course.”

Louie French, the Conservative shadow sport minister, accused Burnham of “publicly backing the owners” amid a probe into the club’s funding over recent years, and described his comments as “frankly extraordinary”.

The Liberal Democrats called on Burnham to publish all details of his meetings with Manchester City’s owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), and to declare all hospitality he has accepted at the Etihad Stadium.

David Bernstein, the former chairman of both City and the Football Association, said he was “concerned” about Burnham’s comments and that the issue was “something that politicians should be seen to be staying well away from”.

City were found guilty of charges related to breaches of financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.

The Premier League said on Tuesday that an independent commission found City arranged “sham” commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period. The deals were part of a disguised funding scheme under which those companies were required to pay only a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.

The commission found that the remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, which owned the club.

According to the Premier League’s statement, the purpose of the schemes was found to have been to inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900m over the period, so that it appeared to comply with financial rules.

The league said the question of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing before the commission, which will remain private until publication of the outcome is permitted.

The Premier League said the club had until 2 October to appeal against the commission’s findings. City deny the charges and have said they intend to appeal.

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Paul Jones

Harvard alumni and former New York Times journalist. Editor of Business Matters for over 15 years, the UKs largest business magazine. I am also head of Capital Business Media’s automotive division working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.