Billionaire Al Faraj completes takeover of Portsmouth

Saudi Arabian billionaire Ali al Faraj completed his takeover of Portsmouth late on Monday when the Premier League club confirmed he had bought 90 per cent of the shares from Sulaiman al Fahim who took over in August.

Portsmouth’s financial problems were exposed last week when the club admitted that players and executives had not been paid in the build-up to Saturday’s 1-0 win at Wolves, their first points of the season after seven straight league defeats.

UAE businessman Al Fahim said last week that he was looking to inject £50 million into the south coast club as part of a refinancing deal to stabilise its precarious financial position.

However, on Sunday he confirmed that he would sell a majority stake to Al-Faraj, a property investor with a holding in petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

Al Fahim will retain a 10 per cent stake in the club and will remain non executive chairman until the end of next season at least.

Portsmouth’s terrible start on the pitch, the worst by a top flight club for 79 years, came in the wake of Al Fahim’s protracted takeover of the struggling club.

Their cause was not helped by the sale of several high-profile players in the last two transfer windows including England trio Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch.