GFH Capital going for goal? (By IFN)

GLOBAL: Speculation is rife that GFH Capital, the Dubai-based private equity arm of Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House, has launched a GBP50 million (US$79.35 million) takeover bid for the UK’s Leeds United Football Club (LUFC), with David Haigh, the deputy CEO and chief operating officer of GFH Capital, said to be in the running for the position of the club’s chairman. The news follows attempts by the club’s fans, led by the Leeds United Supporters Trust, to oust current chairman and owner, Ken Bates, due to discontent over his management of the club’s finances and his role in its inability to return to the English Premier League. Based in the city of Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire in the UK, LUFC has a history of playing in the premiership, but currently plays as a championship club in the Football League. The Football League was England’s top level football championship up until 1992, when its top 22 clubs splintered away to form the Premier League. Meanwhile, talk of GFH Capital’s role in the club emerged after Haigh and Salem Patel, who sits on the private equity firm’s board and is a member of its executive team, were spotted at a LUFC match last month; seen as a sign that the firm is courting an ownership stake in the club. Interestingly enough, GFH Capital’s profile on Haigh, whose parents are from Leeds, also notes that he is a fan of LUFC. Football loyalties aside, the question now remains on what role GFH Capital would play in LUFC; and whether the football club could add value to the firm. A point to note is that the club was saved from insolvency by the entry of Bates in 2007. Nonetheless, fans remain dissatisfied with his management of the club, with many seeing GFH Capital as its possible knight in shining armor. Although the private equity firm does not disclose its financials, the company has kept busy with investments, despite its major shareholder, GFH, still struggling to regain its financial footing following the crisis in 2008/2009. Most recently, GFH Capital acquired Turkey’s Adabank for US$75 million. Its other existing investments include Al Baraka Takaful, Solidarity Insurance, First Leasing Bank and First Energy Bank, while it has also managed the Injazat Technology Fund, a US$50 million venture capital fund set up by entities including the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, which also helped establish GFH Capital.