Emirati-linked firms’ ownership of Manchester land ‘up 39%’ in ten years

‘That’s the way the city works’: how the UAE changed the face of Andy Burnham’s Manchester

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleEmirati-linked companies own almost 40% more land in Greater Manchester than a decade ago, Guardian analysis reveals, as the city’s economic ties face scrutiny after Manchester City’s financial rules scandal.

The number of land titles in Greater Manchester owned by United Arab Emirates-linked companies increased from 51 in 2016 to 168 in 2026, equivalent to a 39% rise in the total area owned in a decade, from 73 to 101 hectares (180 to 250 acres).

Among them, there are at least 34 land titles currently owned by Manchester City FC’s owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through one of his companies. That includes the Etihad Stadium, as well as properties in Ancoats and New Islington, among others. In total, two-thirds of the Emirati-owned land in Greater Manchester as of 2026 was owned by one of Mansour’s companies.

Andy Burnham has faced weeks of scrutiny over the Manchester City FC cheating scandal after he appeared to initially sympathise with City’s owners, who he described as a “huge partner in the building of modern Manchester”, and said that he would be “really concerned” if they sold the club.

The prime minister has been urged to reveal all of his meetings with Manchester City’s owners after he initially said he had one “significant” meeting with the Abu Dhabi executives only for five other meetings to come to light.

The scale of UAE investments in Manchester has been revealed by the Guardian after Manchester City were found guilty of an “unprecedented” nine-year breach of financial rules under the current ownership. The analysis shows that while there has been strong growth in land ownership, Emirati money is only one part of the foreign investment that has helped drive Manchester’s recent economic success.

Prof Jonathan Silver, a University of Sheffield researcher who has analysed Manchester’s deals with Abu Dhabi, said the growing buy-up of land and property by Emiratis raised “major concerns about the fragility of the ‘Manchester model’ and its reliance on attracting flows of international finance, whatever the cost”.

He added: “This is not ‘just a football story’ but rather a story of a city-region in northern England aligning its economy into the orbit of an authoritarian state in the Gulf, accused of human rights abuses at home and terrible war crimes in Sudan.

“It’s put city leaders in a position in which they celebrate the radical democratic history of Manchester but act against such traditions in the present, all justified by the demands of economic growth.”

The total stock of all foreign investment in Greater Manchester increased by 25% between 2015 and 2024. Looking at the most recent investments only, the latest ONS data shows that the north-west received the highest net foreign investment in 2024 of any region outside London. Greater Manchester received almost £2bn net from overseas entities that year, the highest city region after London, Edinburgh and the south-east of Scotland, and Cardiff.

Although published ONS data does not specify investments in Greater Manchester by the UAE, other figures suggest that it is a relatively small contributor overall. Asian countries outside Japan made up less than 5% of the total stock of foreign investment in the city region at the end of 2024. A further 10% was from UK offshore islands – through which some Emirati money may have flowed.

At the end of 2024, the total stock of foreign direct investment from the United Arab Emirates accounted for just 0.3% of all foreign investments in the UK.

Although UAE investment in the country is small, it is growing. Property experts say the UK has seen a surge in demand from international investors in recent years, with buyers in the UAE, the wider Middle East and Europe said to be the fastest-growing markets.

The rise in the amount of land owned by Emirati-linked corporations in Greater Manchester has been mostly driven by UAE-based companies other than those owned by Mansour. That includes 15 titles owned by the Abu Dhabi government – most of which were acquired as part of their purchase of Circle Health Group, including Alexandra hospital in Cheadle, Highfield hospital in Rochdale and Beaumont hospital in Bolton.

Other wealthy Emirati investors include Dr Ali Saeed Al Ameri, a Gulf oil executive, who owns £1.3m worth of apartments through a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, which is famed for its corporate secrecy.

Another is the multimillionaire property mogul Mohammed Ahmad Aldallal, who develops luxury homes in Dubai while owning at least £10m worth of comparatively unglamorous buildings in Bolton, Oldham and Manchester.

These include Oldham’s historic Grand Theatre, where the Beatles are said to have performed, which he demolished last year to make way for an 11-storey apartment block. Aldallal, who comes from a line of super-rich property developers, said last year it was a “great honour” to invest in Oldham, where he spent seven years at college and “almost every day” at Riley’s snooker club, which was based in the now-demolished Grand Theatre.

Separate Guardian analysis of public contracts from all Greater Manchester-based public bodies – including NHS trusts – shows that £84.4m was spent on firms ultimately owned in the UAE between 2016 and 2026. Of that 85% was NHS spending on Circle Health Group, which was ultimately taken over by the UAE government in 2024.

The figures – from the public sector market intelligence firm Tussell – show Manchester city council spent £6.3m on UAE-backed companies, more than half of which went to Manchester City Football Club.

Leader of the Manchester city council Garry Bridges said: “I came to Manchester in 2005 and it is inarguable that the city is in better shape now than it was then, and unrecognisable from the city of the 80s and 90s.

“Ancoats in particular was a derelict, largely abandoned neighbourhood and one which the council was committed to regenerating for some time. To suggest that the story has been anything but positive from a regeneration point of view is ludicrous.”

The Guardian analysis combines data from the Land Registry and Companies House to track ownership of land between 2016 and 2026. There is no information on beneficial owners of companies before April 2016.

It includes land titles that are owned by companies based in the UAE and titles whose beneficial owners are the Abu Dhabi government or Emirati nationals based in the UAE. The analysis does not include land owned directly by individuals as this information is not publicly available.

Additional reporting by George Frances Lee