Indian takes over Racing Santander

Santander, Spain, Jan 29 (AFP) Indian entrepreneur AhsanAli Syed officially took over as owner of Spanish FirstDivision side Racing Santander he announced today.

Syed - who made an unsuccessful 300-million-pound(480-million-dollar) bid to buy English Premier League sideBlackburn Rovers earlier this season - promised that he wouldbring in new blood to the squad starting with Serbianinternational striker Nikola Zigic from Premier League sideBirmingham City.

Syed, founder of Bahrain-based asset manager Western GulfAdvisory, said in a statement that he was set to come toSantander later on Saturday to reveal details of the deal andhis plans for the future of the club.

"Mr. Ali Syed will arrive in Santander to present theacquisition agreement of Racing de Santander," the statementread.

"Mr. Ali Syed will arrive in Santander today (Saturday)to make the official presentation of the deal to the pressmedia and to the Racing supporters.

"Yesterday night, in Credit Suisse offices in Zurich,Ahsan Ali Syed, the regional Government of Cantabria, andDumviro Ventures, signed an agreement by which the Indianentrepreneur becomes the new major shareholder of the SpanishPremier League Club, Racing de Santander.

"After several weeks of intensive negotiations, theagreement will clarify the financial situation of Racing deSantander and will allow the football club to focus onimproving its results and position in La Liga."

Zigic would represent a big name signing for the club,though, the 30-year-old made one of his more effectiveperformances for Birmingham in Wednesday''s League Cupsemi-final win over West Ham.

Syed becomes the second foreign businessman to invest ina Spanish club in the past year, Malaga was bought last May bya member of the Qatari royal family, Sheikh Abdallah BenNasser Al-Thani.

Santander, whose best ever finish in the SpanishChampionship was second in the 1930/31 season and have reachedthe Spanish Cup semi-finals twice, are presently 14th in thechampionship, having finished 16th last season. (AFP) PDS