Newcastle United: Who is Amanda Staveley? The Yorkshire businesswoman who dated Prince Andrew

Amanda Staveley, along with her Dubai-based investment business PCP Capital Partners, tried and failed to buy the Newcastle football club two times before succeeding with the Saudi consortium; once on November 20, 2017, when the company submitted a rough bid of £300 million to buy Newcastle United but failed. They tried again in April 2020, but it fell through on July 30, 2020.

Following Saudi consortium’s takeover of Newcastle United on October 7, Amanda received 10 per cent of the shares for her role in the investment, while the Saudi Public Investment Fund received 80 per cent and the Reuben Brothers took the remaining 10.

Who is Amanda Staveley?

Amanda was born and raised in Ripon and is well known for her connections with Middle Eastern investors.

She is the daughter of Robert Staveley, the landowner who founded the Lightwater Valley theme park, where she worked as a waitress when she was a child. Amanda’s mother, Lynne, was a champion showjumper and occasional model.

Amanda attended Queen Margaret’s School in York and as a child she followed in her mother’s footsteps and competed in showjumping and athletics.

She began her business career at the age of 18 after turning down a place at Cambridge University. Instead, Amanda opened a restaurant, Stocks, near Newmarket, with a £180,000 loan.

From there, Amanda built her own connections with the Middle East and her career as a businesswoman soared.

In 2003, she hit national headlines when she began dating Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

Amanda played a vital role in the £7.3 billion investment in Barclays by the ruling families of Abu Dhabi, Qatar and by the Qatar sovereign wealth fund.

Her firm at the time, PCP Capital Partners, acted for Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan from the Abu Dhabi royal family, who invested £3.5 billion to take over 16 per cent of the bank. As a result, PCP Capital Partners earned a commission of £110 million and a profit of £40 million.

She was also involved in Sheikh Mansour’s purchase of Manchester City Football Club in September 2008.

Amanda currently lives in Dubai with her British-Iranian financier husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi.

In 2017, she was worth an estimated £115 million.