Newcastle United’s Amanda Staveley linked to truce in men’s pro golf

Fatiha Betscher
|
|

Amanda Staveley (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)

Fatiha Betscher

Feature Interviews

Latest Stories

It seems it took the powers of female persuasion to bring together the mega billion dollar deal that resulted in the shock news of an immediate truce among the warring tours in men’s professional golf.

The truce will see the PGA Tour and DP World Tour join forces with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, and it seems it’s all down to Newcastle United board member Amanda Staveley.

Of course, Newcastle is owned by the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who own and also fund the LIV breakaway, and this Newcastle connection also boasts Magpies Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who it was announced will head the board of the new but yet unnamed PGA Tour/DP World Tour/LIV Golf body.

play-sharp-fill

By way of background, the 50-year-old Staveley helped a Saudi consortium take over Newcastle United in a deal completed in October 2021 and has joined the board of directors.

In 2008, Staveley played a prominent role in the investment of £7.3 billion in Barclays by the ruling families of Abu Dhabi and Qatar, and by the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.[1]

Staveley’s firm, PCP Capital Partners, acted for Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the Abu Dhabi royal family, who invested £3.5 billion to control 16 percent of the bank. The deal was reported to have earned PCP Capital Partners a commission of £110 million, which, after paying advisers, represented a profit of £40 million.

Staveley was also involved in Mansour’s high-profile purchase of Manchester City F.C. in September 2008.

Staveley has also attempted on two occasions to buy a stake in Newcastle United, first in 2018 and again in 2020 as part of a group led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. The takeover was completed on 7 October 2021 with Staveley owning 10% of the club, Reuben Brothers owning 10%, and Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, owning 80%.

This enormous background in dealing with Middle East financial interests clearly put Staveley in a very good position to act, and if it is correct, as a highly-experienced mediator in what we now know led to yesterday’s news release.

According to the Daily Mail, the PIF enlisted Staveley, a director at St James’ Park to help broker a truce. She travelled to the Masters in April and also held talks with Rory McIlroy, a vocal opponent of LIV Golf.

Staveley met the four-time major winner just prior to Christmas though McIlroy has vehermently spoken out against those joining the breakaway tour however, it may seem that Staveley’s intervention has ended the biggest-ever upheval in men’s pro golf.

Stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest Irish Golfer news straight to your inbox!

More News

Leave a comment


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy & Terms of Service apply.