Abu Dhabi United Group
| Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) | |
|
Native name
|
مجموعة أبوظبي المتحدة للتنمية والاستثمار |
| Industry | Sports Sports services |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Founder |
HRH Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sulaiman Al-Fahim |
| Headquarters | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |
|
Key people
|
Khaldoon Al Mubarak |
| Owner | HRH Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan |
| Subsidiaries | City Football Group |
The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG), مجموعة أبوظبي الاتحاد للتنمية والاستثمار,' is a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based private equity company owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family and Minister of Presidential Affairs for the UAE. The primary interest of the group is its ownership of City Football Group, a worldwide organisation most notably controlling Manchester City F.C, Melbourne City F.C and New York City F.C., as well as several other international football clubs, although it holds interests in various other endeavours outside of the sporting world also.
It was initially thought that Abu Dhabi United Group was a part of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund owned by Abu Dhabi. But Abu Dhabi United Group had denied connection to the government of Abu Dhabi.
The Group was founded in the summer of 2008, as Sheikh Mansour looked to take over Manchester City Football Club from the former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra and signed off the deal on 1 September 2008, with due diligence completed on 23 September the same year.
The US-educated Sulaiman Al-Fahim was the public face of ADUG during the initial phase of the takeover - a larger-than-life figure often described as the "Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi". On completion of the takeover, Al-Fahim generated considerable attention in the footballing world with promises of grandiose spending plans to capture the world's greatest footballing talents. Although he did bring in the Brazilian Robinho from Real Madrid on the same day on which the takeover was agreed, Al-Fahim's targets rapidly made the club a target in the media, and only one week after ADUG took control of the club Al-Fahim was removed from his role to be replaced by the much more restrained Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who remains in position to the present day.
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Wikipedia