Newcastle owners take majority stake in four Saudi clubs, including Al Nassr

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund that owns Newcastle has taken majority stakes in four of the biggest clubs in the Middle East, including Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr side.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) takes a 75% stake in Al Nassr, Asian Champions League finalists Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad, who are reportedly interested in signing Karim Benzema after his intention to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season was confirmed.

The PIF also owns an 80% stake in Newcastle following the completion of a protracted and controversial takeover in October 2021.

Sources close to the fund have told the PA news agency that the decision to take majority stakes in the four Saudi clubs does not constitute the creation of a multi-club ownership model involving Newcastle.

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Each club will be managed by an independent board and have separate executive management, the sources said.

The Saudi elite clubs, which have technically belonged to the country's sports ministry until now, are being privatized as part of a government initiative to help the sport grow further.

FIFA has been contacted to comment on the issue.

A statement on the PIF's Twitter account reads: "As part of today's announcement of the sports club investment and privatization project, four Saudi clubs - Al Ittihad, Al Ahli , Al Nassr and Al Hilal - have been transformed into companies, each of which is owned by PIF and non-profit foundations for each club."

PIF said existing members of each club would be included in all four foundations and that the fund was working closely with the Ministry of Sports on the regulatory procedures needed to complete the clubs' transfers to their new structures as newly created companies alongside non-profit foundations.

“The transfer of the four clubs will open up various business opportunities, including investments, partnerships and sponsorships in many sports,” concludes the statement from the PIF.

The Saudi government said in a statement by the country's national news agency earlier on Monday that it hoped that in addition to further boosting sport participation at grassroots level, the move to privatization would increase league revenue from 450 million riyals (£96.7 million) last year to 1.8 billion riyals (£386.7 million) and increasing its market value to over 8 billion riyals (1 £.72 billion) by 2030.

The extent to which the Saudi government controls Newcastle came to the fore again in February this year after court documents were released in the United States.

The Premier League only approved the PIF takeover of the club after receiving 'legally binding assurances' that the Saudi state would not have control of the club.

However, documents from PIF's legal team released in a court case related to the dispute between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour describe PIF as "a sovereign instrument of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" and the Governor of PIF and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as "a serving minister in the Saudi government".

The Premier League declined to say whether they had opened an investigation following the release of the court documents.