Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan , often referred to as Sheikh Mansour, is an Emirati politician who is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, minister of presidential affairs and member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. He is the half brother of the current President of UAE, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
He is also the chairman of the ministerial council for services, the Emirates Investment Authority and the Emirates Racing Authority. He sits on the Supreme Petroleum Council and the boards of numerous investment companies including the International Petroleum Investment Company and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.
Mansour also owns stakes in a number of business ventures, including Virgin Galactic and Sky News Arabia. He is also the owner of the privately held Abu Dhabi United Group, a specialist investment company that acquired Manchester City Football Club in September 2008, though immediately handed all responsibility and ownership to Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the City Football Group which has overseen a significant transformation at the club since then. The club have won four top flight league titles for the first time since 1968, City's first Premier League titles. On 21 May 2013, Major League Soccer of the United States announced that its second New York City club, to be called New York City FC, would begin play in the 2015 season and be majority-owned by Mansour in association with brothers Hal and Hank Steinbrenner.
Early life and education
Mansour was born in the Abu Dhabi emirate on 20 November 1970, the fifth son of the Emir of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. His mother is Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Ketbi and he has five full-brothers: Crown Prince Mohammed, Hamdan, Hazza, Tahnoun, and Abdullah. They are known as Bani Fatima or sons of Fatima.Mansour attended Santa Barbara Community College as an English student in 1989. He is a graduate of United Arab Emirates University where he received a bachelor's degree in international affairs in 1993.
Political career
In 1997, Mansour bin Zayed was appointed chairman of the presidential office, which his father Zayed II is the first and by-then president of UAE. After the death of his father, he was appointed by his eldest half brother, Khalifa II, as first minister of presidential affairs of the United Arab Emirates, which is the merger of the presidential office and presidential court. He also served in a number of positions in Abu Dhabi to support his brother, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.He was appointed chairman of the ministerial council for services, which is considered a ministerial entity attached to the Cabinet, comprising a number of ministers heading the services departments. Since 2000 he chaired National Center for Documentation and Research. In 2004 reshuffle, he became minister for presidential affairs. In 2005, he became the deputy chairman of the Abu Dhabi education council, chairman of the Emirates Foundation, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. In 2006, he was named the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of Khalifa bin Zayed Charity Foundation.
Mansour served as the chairman of First Gulf Bank until 2006, and as a member of the board of trustees of the Zayed charitable and humanitarian foundation. Mansour has established scholarship programs for U.A.E students to study abroad. He is also chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority. On 11 May 2009, he was appointed deputy prime minister, retaining his cabinet post of minister of presidential affairs.
Business portfolio
Mansour heads IPIC, which owns 71% of Aabar Investments and is used as an investment vehicle. After the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal was highlighted and Khadem al-Qubaisi, who was managing IPIC, was arrested in 2016, IPIC was folded into Aabar Investments. Qubaisi blamed Mansour and the UAE authorities for using him as a scapegoat in the affair. Mansour is the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department and Qubaisi is being held in prison without charge.In 2005, he was appointed as a member of the Supreme Petroleum Council. In the same year he chaired the board of directors of IPIC and became the board member of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of the Emirates Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of UAE.
Mansour has a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic after investing $280 million in the project through Aabar in July 2009. Aabar also has a 9.1% stake in Daimler after purchasing the stake for $2.7 billion in March 2009 and it was reported that Aabar wishes to increase its stake to 15% in August 2010. He owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation which partnered with British Sky Broadcasting to establish Sky News Arabia – a new Arabic-language news channel headquartered in Abu Dhabi. ADMIC also owns the English-language newspaper The National.
Sport
Mansour is an accomplished horse rider and has won a number of endurance racing tournaments held in the Middle East, and is chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority. He is a strong supporter of Arabian horse racing and the patron of the annual Zayed International Half Marathon competition in Abu Dhabi.He is the chairman of the Al Jazira sports company and was a leading figure in Abu Dhabi's successful bid to host the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2010. The company owns Al Jazira Club, which plays football, volleyball, handball and basketball. The football club won the President's Cup in 2010-2011 and 2011–2012.
In September 2008, Sheikh Mansour acquired Manchester City football club from former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. By 23 September 2008, the Abu Dhabi United Group, backed by Mansour, completed their takeover negotiations and the ownership was transferred to them. He also owns the City Football Group, which was founded in 2014 and consists of Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC, New York City FC, and others. City's ownership was deemed as United Arab Emirates' attempt to "sportswash" its image and as an instrument of foreign policy by several human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
In 2014, UEFA found that Manchester City breached the Financial Fair Play rules. The club was fined £49 million, while £32 million were suspended. Moreover, City's Champions League squad for 2014-15 was reduced to only 21 players. In 2018, the club came under fresh allegations of breach. German newspaper Der Spiegel wrote a four-chapter story highlighting that Mansour neglected FFP rules and bulked up 'sponsorship' deals with his own money. The Emirati provided £59.5 million of a £67.5 million for an agreement signed with Etihad Airways. The report also revealed a £15 million annual deal with an investment firm Aabar, through an internal email sent by executive Simon Pearce in April 2010. The club refused to comment and called it an attempt to damage their reputation was "organised and clear". City stated that the emails and documents have been obtained illegally. A book called Can We Have Our Football Back? How the Premier League Is Ruining Football And What We Can Do About It, by John Nicholson reportedly claims that Premier League has corrupted football by turning the sport into a money making business. The alleged 'sportswash' campaign run by Manchester City is among the several scandals mentioned by Nicholson in his book, demanding scrutiny towards them. In May 2019, UEFA opened investigation into Manchester City on allegations that the club misled European soccer's financial regulators. However, the club still reserved right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In November 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against Manchester City's attempt to block investigation into breach of financial fair play rules. As per the records published by Court of Arbitration, Manchester City in its appeal to block investigation for FFP claimed damages from UEFA. The club claimed that the alleged leaks by Der Spigel were "unlawful" in regards to a possible inquiry. However, Yves Leterme dismissed the claims calling them "groundless" and "unacceptable in tone" In February 2020, Manchester City were banned from the UEFA Champions League for two seasons after they were found guilty of violating the financial fair play rule. UEFA in its statement said: "Manchester City Football Club committed serious breaches of the UEFA club licensing and financial fair play regulations." The adjudicatory chamber also informed that the club overstated its sponsorship revenue and used biased calculating methods for the financial accounts submitted between 2012 and 2016. The club responding to the verdict said that it would now approach the Court of Arbitration for Sport and initiate proceedings as soon as possible.
Personal life
Mansour married Sheikha Alia bint Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed in the mid-1990s. They have one son, Zayed.In 2005, Mansour married Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. She is the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ruler of Dubai. They have two daughters and three sons: Fatima, Mohammed, Hamdan, Latifa and Rashid
Mansour is the owner of the yacht Topaz.