Foreign investors in Panathinaikos seem to be like London buses: You wait for ages for one to come, and then come two at once, as a few days after the bid by Saudi Prince Sultan al-Saud, an Abu Dhabi-based fund expressed on Friday its interest in acquiring all of Panathinaikos's shares.
Giorgos Georgiou, the representative of a foreign investment fund from the United Arab Emirates, went to the Panathinaikos headquarters on Friday morning and submitted a folder containing all details about the fund's expression of interest in 90 percent of the club's shares, as the rest must by law stay in the hands of the Panathinaikos amateur division.
Panathinaikos confirmed the reception of the folder and its lawyers are already looking through it in order to establish whether it contains all the guarantees required for the fund's interest to be considered seriously. All signs are that this may well be another serious bid for the Athens giant.
The Abu Dhabi firm is reportedly planning a mammoth 5-billion-euro investment in the Greens, compared with the Saudi Prince's 220-million-euro plans. The Prince has only bid for the 54.7 percent stake in the club that the Vardinoyiannis family owns.
The representative of the Prince's bid, Vlassis Tsakas, went on record on Friday to stress that the prince has tabled an official offer, whereas the rival proposal is no more than a mere expression of interest. "This is just a trick to impress people," he said in dismissive fashion.
Arabs have shown a keen interest in European football in the last decade, acquiring such major clubs as Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, Roma and Malaga, but this will be the first time there are two rival Arab bids for the same club.
More: sportingreece
