Qatari Sheikh Says He’s No Football Fan as Son Chases Man United
Former Qatari prime minister, best known as HBJ, also discusses art investing and the prospects for Middle East peace on “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations.”
In the decade since Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani stepped down as Qatar’s prime minister and negotiator-in-chief for the country’s sovereign wealth fund, he’s retreated from geopolitics — but not from dealmaking, which is now a family affair.
Sheikh Hamad’s son Jassim made a £5 billion ($6 billion) offer for Manchester United Plc football club less than two weeks ago, kicking off a bidding war for one of the biggest names in sports. Before the official offer, Bloomberg News reported that Sheikh Hamad — best known by his initials, HBJ — was helping pull together a Qatari consortium to bid for the English Premier League club.