Qatar’s investment vehicles are cooling their interests in France, sources have told ESPN, including the majority owners of Paris Saint-Germain.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) — the country’s sovereign wealth fund, which has an estimated €500 billion of assets — and PSG’s majority ownership group, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), have already slowed down their investments in the country.
Sources have told ESPN that the change in investment strategy has taken place for over a year and does not come as a reaction to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi being subject to an investigation in France into possible corruption.
The investigation does not relate to Al-Khelaifi’s activities at PSG, but rather his links to a French businessman, a judicial official told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The Associated Press reported that he has been handed preliminary charges of complicity in the alleged buying of a vote and harming of freedom to vote, and of complicity in abuse of power to the detriment of the Lagardere group.
Preliminary charges in France mean the suspect could be freed if an investigation turns up nothing, or formally indicted and sent to trial.
Al-Khelaifi denies the charges.
A source close to Al-Khelaifi told ESPN: “This file has absolutely and emphatically nothing to do with Nasser Al-Khelaifi, but as usual he will get dragged through a completely spurious process as a famous name, who is apparently responsible for anything and everything, until everything quietly disappears without any grounds whatsoever in a few years.”
Qatari officials have been considering their position in France for some time after growing tired of what they perceive as unfair treatment from local media, the French justice system and national politicians.
QIA owns a significant number of properties and hotels among other business interests in Paris, but it has already begun selling parts of its French portfolio.
France used to be one of the priority markets for QIA, QSI, beIN Media Group and Qatar’s other investment arms.
QSI bought PSG in 2011. The group have overseen significannt investment in the transfer market, signing players such as Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Lionel Messi.
It resulted in 10 Ligue 1 titles and a host of other domestic honours in the succeeding 13 years, although the club has continually failed to achieve QSI’s goal of winning the Champions League.
American investment fund Arctos, in partnership with NBA star Kevin Durant, acquired a minority common equity stake in PSG in December 2023.
The move showed QSI’s desire to attract outside investors in the club, while it has also broadened its portfolio of investments outside of France, including a minority stake in Portuguese club Braga.
Meanwhile, beIN Media Group, who through beIN Sports own the broadcast rights to Ligue 1, has been involved in investment talks with Saudi Arabia for over a year. It has also reduced its overall spend on media rights in France.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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