Buyout makes Manchester City richest football club

BIG BUCKS: Abu Dhabi United Group bought Manchester City club for a whopping 210 million pounds.

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Londodn: Manchester City's only distinction in British football is its long-term tenancy at the lower end of the league tables. But that has not stopped one of the richest Arab groups from buying out its ownership, making it perhaps the richest club on the planet.

The sale catapults un-rated City to the top of the super-rich British club league, hitherto dominated by Chelsea and Manchester United. It also sparks off a war among the moneybag club owners as already evidenced on Monday when millions of pounds were spent by these clubs on a single day to sign in famous footballers.

It was announced Monday that former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has sold the club to the Abu Dhabi United Group (Adug), for 210 million pounds (over $375 million). The deal was signed in Abu Dhabi Sunday. Shinawatra is facing an in absentia trial for corruption charges at home and lives in exile in London.

Adug is fronted by Sulaiman al-Fahim, a 31-year-old businessman, property mogul and reality-television show host who is ranked 16th in Arabian Business Magazine's list of 100 most powerful Arabs.

His personal wealth is said to be 10 times that of Russian multi-billionaire Roman Abramovich, who stunned British football with his 600-million-pound buyout of, and investment in, Chelsea Football Club.

Al-Fahim is the chief executive of Hydra Properties, a company set up only two years ago but which has already signed more than 1 billion pounds worth of contracts in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Mexico and around the world. A flamboyant character, he is regularly seen in Hollywood and was recently pictured alongside Leonardo di Caprio.

Al-Fahim said Monday he had not put up the money himself but was a figurehead for members of the UAE's royal family, whose riches are even greater, and that the aim was to establish City among the world's elite clubs.