Finance guru salutes Newcastle United as new deal details emerge – ‘this is classic PIF’
It is no surprise to see the Saudi Public Investment Fund making full use of their business portfolio when it comes to striking new sponsorship deals for Newcastle United.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the PIF’s strategy in the St James’ Park commercial department.
Newcastle, who recently returned from a warm-weather training camp in their owners’ homeland, announced deals with two PIF-owned businesses last week in esports firm VOV and telecommunications brand stc.
That takes the total number of sponsorship deals signed since the £305million takeover in October last year to seven.
As revealed by Football Insider on Thursday (8 December), four of those deals are likely classified by the Premier League as with an ‘associated party’, i.e a company with whom the owners either own or have close corporate links.
Plumley fully expects this trend to continue in the future.
“We were always likely to see this type of deal,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“I expect to see more and more deals signed in this particular space. It’s classic PIF.
“From a strategy perspective, it’s a boost. It puts them in a market that they wouldn’t have had access to under the previous ownership.
“Financially, their commercial numbers have been hovering around £20m to £30m in the last few years. That’s not insignificant but it’s nowhere near the Big Six.
“If the long-term target is to put themselves in that mix, they will be very aware that they have to grow this revenue stream. That is the gap they are trying to close here.”
In other news, pundit suggests Newcastle United “walking a fine line” as fans left “concerned” by Saudi Arabia latest.