JUST IN 🚨- PIF Breaks Silence With Huge Newcastle United Message As Club Pushes For Summer Signings

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) have been the majority owners of Newcastle United since October 2021.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan has vowed that the Public Investment Fund remains committed to its overseas investments.

In a fresh message at the FII Priority Summit in Rome, Newcastle United’s chairman reiterated PIF’s position as “long-term, patient investors”. Doubts about whether PIF which owns an 85 per cent stake in the Magpies are dedicated to the cause emerged earlier this year.

Saudi funding withdrew from LIV Golf after spending around $5 billion in four years. In April, PIF set out its “Value Realization” phase, designed to maximise the returns of its vast investment portfolio.

Naturally, concerns arose regarding whether Newcastle would be affected. However, the Magpies have proven to be a shrewd investment for the Saudi backers.

What was a £305 million football club five years ago is now worth well over £1 billion, with PIF investing around £700 million in total. Owning a Premier League club also provides a high-profile platform on the global sporting stage.

Toon chairman Al-Rumayyan, who is also the governor of PIF, visited Tyneside in May. During his visit, he reaffirmed his long-term commitment to making Newcastle a football powerhouse.

This sentiment has been echoed several times by CEO David Hopkinson, who predicts the Magpies will become a European heavyweight within four years. Speaking at the FII summit, Al-Rumayyan outlined PIF’s stance towards its global portfolio, which includes Newcastle.

> “For us at the PIF, we always continue to invest, be very much diverse and our portfolio structurally resilient,” he said. “We are a long-term patient investor and we will remain committed to all of our investments and investment strategy around the world.

> “A lot of people thought we would stop deploying investments internationally. I can tell you that we’re not going to stop. The percentages are going lower, but the absolute numbers will continue to grow.

> “We just got our board to approve our new strategy until the end of 2030. What PIF did since 2016, we basically brought the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the world. Now our new strategy is to bring the world back to Saudi.”