Official documents verify the £1 billion Newcastle investment plan as a PIF plot transaction. Sunderland supporters will harbour animosity towards

Newcastle’s £1 billion investment plan is confirmed in official documents as a PIF plot agreement that Sunderland supporters will despise. The Saudi

Arabian Public Investment Fund is in the process of acquiring a 49% stake in Newcastle International Airport, as reported by The Times in December. As of now, council documents indicate that a sale is imminent following a cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Newcastle Airport is majority-owned by local councils, with Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham, Northumberland,

North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and Durham councils collectively possessing a 51% stake as the “Newcastle Airport Local Authority.” Infrabridge holds the remaining 49% of the stake. The report to “endorse the Leader of the Council consenting as a Director of the Newcastle Airport Local Authority Holding Company Limited (NALAHCL) to the sale of shares from the existing private sector partner” was included in the official cabinet meeting documents for Tuesday,

March 11, 2019, at Northumberland County Council. JP Morgan, a financial institution, is reportedly responsible for the sale of Infrabridge’s 49% share in a transaction that could be worth up to £1 billion. Council sanction is required for this transaction. The identity of a prospective purchaser has not been disclosed to the public;

however, it is believed that PIF is the “frontrunner.”Riyadh Air was established in 2023 by PIF, which holds an 85% stake in Newcastle United. Saudia, the other national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, is a commercial associate of Newcastle United. Last year, the sovereign wealth fund and French co-investor Ardian acquired a 37.6% stake in Heathrow Airport in a £3.3 billion transaction.

Due to the obvious affiliation with Newcastle United, a minority seizure of the North East’s primary and busiest airport by the PIF may not be widely supported in the region. Many of the millions of passengers the airport serves annually are supporters of Sunderland, Newcastle’s ferocious rivals.