Kuwait's Al Hasawi family buys Nottingham Forest FC

With the purchase of the club, Al Hasawi joins the ranks of other notable football financiers, such as Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited, led by HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who bought Manchester City for a reported $321m in 2008.

Qatar Sports Investments owns French football club Paris Saint-Germain, while Dubai's Royal Emirates Group owns the Spanish La Liga side Getafe.

"This transaction continues the trend for overseas buyers, especially from the Middle East, of English football clubs," said Richard Barham, Partner at SNR Denton UK LLP.

"It is obviously preferably for such a transaction to happen relatively quickly. Unfortunately, especially in today's markets, M&A transactions can take some before they complete. Here, it seems that the due diligence was undertaken within 10 days, a relatively short timeframe."

Due diligence (legal, financial and operational) is a key element of the transaction; it is important for any buyer to understand exactly what they are getting themselves into.

"Mike Ashley, when he bought Newcastle, found that the debt position of the club was worse than he had envisaged. He probably wishes that he had conducted a more thorough financial due diligence," said Barham.

The other key element for any buyer, and of interest to the fans, is the question of how much money will be available in order to fund the club going forward. In particular, how much money is available to buy and pay players.

Al Hasawi, who resigned as President of Kuwait's largest team Qadsia SC this week, made his fortune in the refrigeration business and is a member of one the nation's most wealthy families.

Qatar Airways mulls EPL sponsorship opportunities

Following the trend of UK investment in UK football, Qatar Airways is reportedly eyeing sponsorship of an English Premier League football club, having received two recent approaches to do so, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

"Two English teams have approached us. We told them that we would consider it ... but we are not yet ready to do it," Akbar Al Baker was quoted as saying by Reuters at the Farnborough Airshow.

Al Baker said the approaches had come from clubs looking to build new stadia and that Qatar Airways favoured a deal involving stadium naming rights - similar to Arsenal's deal with Dubai's Emirates Airline.

"If we do it we would like to do it in a big way," he told the news agency.