Charlton Athletic on Thursday confirmed that the purchase of the club by East Street Investments has been completed.
Tahnoon Nimer and Jonathan Heller, the chairman and chief executive of Abu Dhabi Business Development, have joined Charlton as directors.
Abu Dhabi Business Development is the private office of Sheikh Saeed Bin Tahoon Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.
Nimer is the majority shareholder in East Street Investments through his Abu Dhabi-based corporation, Panorama Magic General Contracting.
The deal ends Roland Duchatelet’s reign at Charlton. Duchatelet took control of the club in 2014 but much of his tenure was defined by friction with supporters.
Duchatelet said in a statement: “It was vital for the long-term health of Charlton Athletic that this deal was completed at the very start of the January transfer window.
“It allows the new owners to commit resources to the football side in order to bring in new players who will help secure the club’s position in the Championship.
“This is a hugely exciting time for everybody involved with Charlton Athletic and I believe the club is in safe hands with His Excellency Tahnoon Nimer, Matt Southall and Jonathan Heller.”
New club chairman Matt Southall, who has been working between the UK and Middle East advising on international mergers and acquisitions, said: “This is a great opportunity for ESI and we are thankful to Roland Duchatelet and his team for giving us the chance to build on such strong foundations.
“Now, for us, the hard work begins. We already have plans in place to support Lee and his staff over the next month.
“But most importantly is strengthening our links with both the fans and the Charlton community so they may understand our short and long-term plans for the club and how we intend to build on the amazing support and goodwill already shown to ESI.”
Charlton manager Lee Bowyer said: “It means that the club are moving forward. It [the takeover] has been a long time coming, since I’ve been in charge it’s been close to being sold, so now the club has moved forward. There is a lot of positive things said so I’m happy, I know our fans will be happy and the most important thing is that we start building.
“I have no doubt that the group that have come in are good people. I’ve spoken to them, they’re looking forward to moving the club forward, there has been a lot of positive things said.”
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