Pendragon agrees £280m sale of UK motor and leasing business

• Lithia will pay £250m for the firm plus £30m stake in the Pinewood business

By Daniel Fessahaye

Updated: 06:16 EDT, 18 September 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

Hilton Food shares soar as FTSE 250 firm agrees supply deal with Walmart

• Hilton revealed it would build a new manufacturing plant in Eastern Canada
• Walmart is one of Canada’s largest employers and serves 1.5m people per day

By Harry Wise

Updated: 07:51 EDT, 14 September 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

Octopus is set to become the UK’s second biggest energy supplier after it announced plans to buy Shell’s household gas and electricity business.

The company, which started as a challenger to traditional suppliers, has climbed the rankings of the energy firms and now only Centrica-owned British Gas lies ahead of it.

Founded in 2015 by businessman Greg Jackson, Octopus will supply energy to almost 6.5m customers following the deal.

The acquisition, which also includes Shell Energy’s German business, comes less than a year after Octopus took on 1.5m customers from Bulb after its collapse into administration.

The deal needs regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of the year.

The Competition and Markets Authority declined to comment on whether it will investigate.

Chief executive Jackson said: ‘Octopus has proven that it delivers game-changing service while innovating and investing relentlessly towards a cheaper cleaner energy system.’

Consolidation in the energy sector has ramped up over the last few years with Octopus emerging as one of the major players.

Many smaller suppliers collapsed in the autumn and winter of 2021 under the pressure of soaring wholesale gas prices, with millions of customers snapped up by surviving businesses. The biggest casualty of the crisis was Bulb, which had been Britain’s seventh biggest energy supplier.

E.On bought N Power in 2019 and Ovo Energy, founded by Northern Irish businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick in 2009, purchased SSE in January 2020.

Ovo Energy’s and Octopus’s trajectories are similar.

Both were founded by British entrepreneurs as challengers to the established suppliers and have gone on to become two of the major players in the UK’s energy market.

Shell Energy entered the UK domestic energy market when it bought First Utility in 2018. The oil giant announced in June that it had put its British and German domestic energy business up for sale, exiting the household energy supply sector after just five years.

It followed a strategic review of the division under chief executive Wael Sawan, who was appointed in January this year.

In May, it was reported that Ovo and Centrica were among those also interested in bidding for the company.

Shell Energy customers in the UK will be transferred to Octopus following the deal’s completion and will not face any disruption to energy supply.

Shell is also winding down its home energy retail business in the Netherlands but said it does not plan to exit the home energy markets in Australia or the USA. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said that the ‘deal suits the strategic objectives of both firms’.

‘Shell exits a market that has seen low returns for energy providers, thanks to soaring wholesale energy costs and increased regulatory and political pressure in the form of caps on the prices that suppliers can charge their customers,’ Mould said.

He added: ‘Providing the transaction gets regulatory approval, this is another step for Octopus to cementing its position as a leading supplier in the UK energy supply market, following the failure or withdrawal of many rivals and its purchase of Bulb in 2022.’

The deal also includes 500,000 UK broadband customers.

Octopus does not currently have a broadband division and said it could not comment on plans for those customers until after the deal receives regulatory approval.

James Mabey, an analyst at analysis provider Cornwall Insight, said: ‘This marks the second major customer book acquisition by Octopus Energy in the last year, after the transfer of Bulb’s customers.

‘The transfer of Shell’s customers will represent an increase in customer numbers on a similar scale. The acquisition will see concentration in the domestic supply market taken to its highest level since early 2016.’

What to do if you’re a Shell Energy customer

The deal is expected to complete in the final three months of 2023 following regulatory approval so Shell customers have been advised to sit tight.

In time they will be transferred to their new account with Octopus, together with their existing direct debits and all customer credit balances are protected.

Natalie Mathie, energy expert at Uswitch, said: ‘Until any takeover is done and dusted, the business will operate as normal. 

‘Customers can be reassured that whatever happens, their credit balances will be protected and no action is required from them.

‘Shell Energy’s decision to exit the market is disappointing, as it has been a well-backed challenger to the larger energy suppliers.

‘It is important that there is strong competition between firms in the longer term, so suppliers cannot rest on their laurels when it comes to service quality and price.’ 

What about broadband customers?

Peter Ames, broadband expert at Broadband Genie, said: ‘While many eyes will be on how the Shell Energy takeover by Octopus will affect its energy customers, around half a million people also get their broadband through the company.

‘A question mark remains over the future of Shell Energy Broadband and whether Octopus will use this acquisition to venture into telecoms. 

‘For the time being at least, we are being told that customers won’t see a drop in service or an increase to their bills.’

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has given a sensational order to his mercenary army this evening to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine.

‘We are turning our columns around and going back to field camps,’ an audio message on his Telegram feed said after a meeting between Prigozhin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigozhin announced that while his men were just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid ‘shedding Russian blood.’ 

In the shock announcement Prigozhin did not say whether the Kremlin has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and there was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he had negotiated a deal to ‘de-escalate tensions’ with Prigozhin, but it is still not clear what the Wagner boss has been offered.

Prigozhin accepted Lukashenko’s offer to halt the Wagner group’s advance and further steps to de-escalate the tensions, Lukashenko’s office said, adding that the proposed settlement contains security guarantees for Wagner troops. It did not elaborate.

Wagner forces – many of whom are still said to be disgruntled about Prigozhin’s retreat – were this evening seen pulling out of the Rostov-on-don and the captured military headquarters in the city.

‘We left on June 23 for the march of justice,’ Prigozhin added in his audio messaged.

‘In a day we travelled, not reaching 200 km, to Moscow.

‘During this time, we have not shed a single drop of the blood of our fighters.

‘Now the moment has come when blood could be shed, therefore, realising all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be shed on one of the sides, we turn our columns around and return in the opposite direction to the field camps, according to the plan.’

Residents Several authorities across Russia said they were lifting restrictions on residents following the now disbanded threat.

An uneasy calm has now prevailed on the streets of Moscow in a city that had been preparing for war. The capital had braced for the arrival of forces from the Wagner Group, a private army led by Prigozhin that has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on the city’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads. 

Putin had earlier vowed harsh consequences for organizers of the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, who brought his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key military facility in southern Russia and advanced toward Moscow.

In a televised speech to the nation earlier, Putin called the rebellion a ‘betrayal’ and ‘treason.’

‘All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,’ Putin said. ‘The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.’

It wasn’t immediately clear what concessions, if any, Putin may have made to persuade Prigozhin to halt his march.

If he accedes to Prigozhin’s demand to oust Shoigu, Prigozhin would emerge from the crisis as a clear winner in a major blow to Putin’s authority.

If Prigozhin agrees not to press the demand, Putin could award him with more lucrative government contracts like those on which he has built his fortune in the past.

However, it would be awkward and politically damaging for Putin to backtrack after branding Prigozhin a backstabbing traitor.

Some observers speculated that Prigozhin could make concessions such as putting the Wagner Group under federal authority, or he could shift the force’s activities back to Africa, where his mercenaries have been active in recent years.

Early Saturday, Prigozhin’s private army appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow that runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.

Wagner troops and equipment also were in Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of Moscow, where authorities were ‘taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population,’ said regional Gov. Igor Artamonov, via Telegram.

Authorities declared a ‘counterterrorist regime’ in Moscow and its surrounding region, enhancing security and restricting some movement. On the southern outskirts, troops erected checkpoints, arranged sandbags and set up machine guns. Crews dug up sections of highways to slow the march.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, had earlier declared that a ‘counter-terrorism regime’ was in force, before the leader of the Wagner private militia announced that his fighters would turn back to avoid bloodshed.

Yevgeny Prigozhin had said he wanted to oust the army’s top brass and ‘restore justice’, while Putin had promised to crush the mutiny.

One Moscow resident who gave his name as Nikolai – declining like others to give his surname – watched the military take up positions to protect the city.

‘It’s frightening of course – you sit at home thinking about what might happen,’ he told Reuters. ‘It’s disturbing, both for you and your loved ones.’

Some residents were finding it hard to grasp the scale of events.

‘… It’s really tough news, really unexpected. I’ve just come back from university. I’ve just done my last exam – and the news was really unexpected as I was prepping (for the exam) last night,’ said Vladimir, a student. ‘I don’t really know how to react. I haven’t really got my head around it yet.’

A woman called Galina said she thought what was happening was some kind of ‘provocation’.

‘It doesn’t frighten me at all,’ she said. ‘I have confidence in our president and our people.’

One man who declined to be named at all said he thought it was just politics playing out.

‘They might cancel a few events, and I make my living from events. I have an event going on now, so I could lose out because of this,’ he said.

‘But otherwise, it’s their business, it’s politics – let them get on with it.’

 

The United States said this evening that it intends to postpone the imposition of new sanctions against Wagner against the backdrop of the situation in Russia.

The US administration fears that by imposing new sanctions against Wagner, it may ‘take the side’ of the Russian leadership, the Wall Street Journal reported. ‘Washington doesn’t want to look like it’s on one side or the other in this [situation],’ the source quoted the WSJ as saying.

According to the newspaper, the US State Department planned on June 27 to impose new sanctions against PMC Wagner because of its activities in Africa.

The surprise reported development comes after a day of complete chaos in Moscow as the city was preparing for war by battening down the hatches as soldiers built outposts and military vehicles flooded the streets.

A total of 5,000 Wagner forces were reportedly advancing toward the capital before the U-turn, and were set to reach as far as Lipetsk this evening.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to have a total of 25,000 men at his disposal and a further 5,000 of them were in Rostov-on-Don, the southern city key to Russia’s war in Ukraine that Prigozhin said he had taken control of.

As the convoy earlier inched towards Moscow it was said to be led by senior Wagner commander and neo-Nazi Dmitry Utkin. A source said Wagner’s plan for Moscow was to take up positions in a densely built-up area prior to its retreat.

A number of restrictions were introduced around the Russian capital following a decree from the governor amid the threat as people were told to refrain from travelling round Moscow.

It comes after Prigozhin initiated a military coup against the Kremlin leaders overnight, which saw the group take key cities and threaten the President, who called them ‘traitors’.

Putin earlier addressed the Russian people amid the Wagner group’s threat, warning that Prigozhin had ‘stabbed him in the back’. Moscow subsequently entered into a lockdown, with troops digging in in preparation to defend the city.

A spokesperson for the Russian president said Putin was still at work in the Kremlin and had not fled Moscow amid the earlier threat. However, two presidential jets were seen flying from Moscow in the direction of St Petersburg this afternoon. They were reported to have switched off its transponder to prevent tracking the route.

The shock announcement from Prigozhin comes after his feared 25,000-strong Wagner militia took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don Saturday, saying they are ‘ready to die’ for their ‘march of justice’, and have been heading north in a hundreds-strong convoy of armoured vehicles.

The unit earlier passed through the halfway city of Voronezh and are soon approaching Lipetsk on their way to Moscow, seeing negligible resistance on their way. 

Before Prigozhin’s announcement, a message posted on the Wagner Telegram channel on Saturday said: ‘Putin made the wrong choice. All the worse for him. Soon we will have a new president.’

Footage on social media earlier showed large convoys of troops heading north from Voronezh, thought to be Wagner mercenaries. They were also said to be on their way to other key cities including Krasnodar and Volgograd.

Russia responded by increasing security in Moscow, mobilising troops who are set to defend against the incursion, and calling for the military to rally around President Putin. 

All public events had been cancelled and Monday had already been declared a non-working day, as Putin called close ally Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko to brief him on the situation. 

Moscow’s mayor had earlier urged people not to take trips across the city, saying the situation is ‘difficult’ and ‘city services are on high alert’. 

Sergey Sobyanin also told residents not to go to work on Monday in order to ‘minimise risks’. It came as part of the announcement of a ‘counter-terrorist operation’ in the city. 

Pro-Putin forces on the outskirts of the city were meanwhile seen digging in against the now disbanded Wagner coup heading towards the capital.

Russian troops were pictured establishing positions at a bridge across the Oka River. They deployed barrage equipment, machine guns and grenade launchers, as military helicopters flew across the city.

Other photos showed soldiers setting up barricades and machine gun nests a little way out of the city, as Putin signed into law a measure which allows people to be detained for up to 30 days in areas where marshal is imposed – not that this has yet happened. 

Russian officials had earlier ordered roads to be blocked by large, heavy trucks in the path of the convoy in an effort to slow it down.

Travel had also been restricted in regions closest to Moscow, most recently in the Kalugia area. Movement on the region’s roads will be restricted near bordering regions Tula, Bryansk, Oryol and Smolensk

Eyewitnesses also reported air strikes on the Wagner convoy heading north. 

Shortly after this emerged, Prigozhin claimed it was hit by Russian strikes and fire from helicopters. 

‘We were fired upon: first artillery strikes, and then from helicopters,’ Prigozhin said in a Telegram post. Video footage online purports to show an artillery strike on an armoured vehicle in the Wagner procession.

Pictures also showed the Wagner forces in the Lipetsk region – less than four hours to the outskirts of Moscow – before the surprise retreat.

The column of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s coup armed force is heading north for a showdown with troops still-loyal to dictator Vladimir Putin amid rumours he has absconded from the capital.

The Wagner forces were some 200 miles from Moscow – facing an evening or nighttime showdown with Russian regular forces.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed he had spoken to western allies about the armed rebellion led by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia, which UK defence officials have described as ‘the most significant challenge’ to the Kremlin in recent times.

Mr Sunak spoke to US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday afternoon ‘to discuss the situation in Russia and reiterate their continuing support for Ukrainian sovereignty’, Downing Street said. 

A senior Kremlin official had warned that a successful rebellion by the Wagner group would mean the mercenaries getting hold of Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal and raise an existential threat to the entire world.

‘The history of mankind hasn’t yet seen the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons under control by bandits,’ Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. ‘Such a crisis will not be limited by just one country’s borders, the world will be put on the brink of destruction.’

He added that ‘we won’t allow such a turn of events.’

Medvedev has frequently used hardline rhetoric since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, regularly reminding the West about Russia’s nuclear arsenal in a bid to discourage the U.S. and its allies from ramping up weapons supplies to Kyiv.

Medvedev described the rebellion as a ‘well-planned operation aimed at seizing power in the country.’ He claimed that some veterans of elite Russian military units and foreign actors could have been involved in it

Away from Russia, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Saturday as the mutinous mercenaries barrelled towards Moscow

‘The leaders discussed the situation in Russia. They also affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine,’ a readout said.

The leaders ‘affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine,’ the White House statement added.

A White House spokesman also said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by their national security team Saturday morning on the Russian crisis and will continue to be briefed throughout the day.

It comes after pro-Putin forces earlier today raided the Wagner unit’s HQ in St Petersburg, after Prigozhin captured the Southern Defense Command in Rostov-on-Don, which plays a major role in the invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Security Service said it had found $47 million in cash on the premises, which Prigozhin claimed is for salaries and other expenses for his men.

Putin described the group’s actions as ‘equivalent to armed mutiny’, and urged those involved to cease any armed resistance.

Multiple reports claimed Putin had left Moscow on Saturday afternoon, despite officials denying it and saying he was working in the Kremlin.

A presidential plane linked to Vladimir Putin flew north from Moscow towards Tver before switching off its transponder, live flight data showed.

Other business jets were seen making an exodus from the capital towards St Petersburg, with senior backers of Putin allegedly fleeing to Turkey.

Prigozhin, who was once a confidant of Vladimir Putin before declaring war on Moscow’s military leadership last night, said in a video that the highest ranking officer at the command post had fled as soon as he learned that Wagner forces were approaching.

A Russian security source said Wagner fighters had also taken control of military facilities in the city of Voronezh, about 500 km (310 miles) south of Moscow. 

A huge oil depot was seen bursting into flames in the city, thought to be an attack on Wagner forces by the Russian military. 

This is significant as it marks the halfway point between Rostov and Moscow.

The governor of Russia’s Voronezh region said on Saturday that the army was taking ‘necessary military measures’ in the region as part of a counter-terrorist operation declared after an armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group. 

It is also being claimed that Wagner troops are on the outskirts of two other southern cities, Krasnodar and Volgograd – but this has not been verified. 

The Lipetsk region is so far the closest location to Moscow where Wagner columns have been spotted. 

‘Hardware of the Wagner mercenary group is moving across the territory of the Lipetsk region,’ Governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.

‘I remind you that residents are strongly recommended not to leave their houses or to make trips on any mode of transport.’

He did not say exactly where in the region the Wagner fighters were seen.

Prigozhin said he had 25,000 troops under his command and would punish Russian military boss Shoigu in an armed rebellion, urging the army not to offer resistance: ‘This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.’

Residents have been told to stay in their homes by government officials, but some were seen out observing what was happening, even live-streaming the action on their cell phones.

The PGA Tour has done a complete about-face by merging with rival LIV Golf less than one year after PGA commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters that such an arrangement was ‘off the table.’ 

In a shocking move that was unknown to PGA stars and LIV commissioner Greg Norman until Tuesday morning, the PGA and European Tours have signed an agreement with the Saudi-backed circuit to combine their businesses into a new, yet-to-be-named company. The merger ends the ongoing litigation between the rivals. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. 

The move represents a major victory for LIV Golf, which has been shunned by many of the sport’s icons, including Tour legends Jack Nicklaus, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, who reportedly turned down a $1billion deal to defect in 2022. 

But LIV Golf has succeeded in buying some of the world’s top players, spending hundreds of millions on the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. The problem now for the PGA Tour is reintegrating the defectors who took Saudi money with the players who remained loyal by refusing lucrative LIV contracts. 

LIV Golf has been slammed for its ties to Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF), with critics accusing the kingdom of ‘sportswashing’ its human rights record. LIV defectors, meanwhile, have been pilloried over allegations of greed. 

Donald Trump, whose golf courses have hosted several LIV events, trumpeted the news on his social media network: GREAT NEWS FROM LIV GOLF. A BIG BEAUTIFUL , AND GLAMOROUS DEAL FOR THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF. GONGRATS TO ALL!!!’

Trump has been highly critical of the PGA in recent years after that tour relocated its 2022 championship away from his course in New Jersey amid uproar over the infamous January 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally. 

It remains to be seen if the merger will lead to Trump landing another PGA event. 

His Turnberry golf course in Scotland is reportedly barred from hosting The Open until the former President sells his resort. Trump bought the golf course in 2014, five years after the last time it staged the storied competition, and is keen to see Europe’s biggest tournament return to the Ayrshire venue.

Speaking from the course on GB News in early May, Trump claimed that ‘everybody wants to see the Open championship here,’ adding that only a few ‘minor adjustments’ would have to be made to ready the course.

Per the Telegraph, the tournament’s organizing body is adamant that Turnberry remains out of contention as a host.

Trump’s level of involvement in the deal also remains unclear, but he did predict a merger 11 months ago. 

‘All of those golfers that remain ”loyal” to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ”thank you” from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year,’ Trump wrote on his social media network in July of 2022. 

‘If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were.’

Tuesday’s merger comes one year after LIV Golf’s first event, and ends its legal battle with the PGA.

While the PGA was accused of violating antitrust laws by banning LIV players from its Tour, golf’s preeminent circuit countersued its Saudi-backed rivals, accusing the outfit of interfering with its deals.

Players who defected to LIV Golf were banned at PGA events, but have continued playing at the majors. For instance, LIV Golf’s Koepka won last month’s PGA Championship. 

The PGA-LIV merger came as a complete surprise, both outside and inside the sport. 

It was only a year ago at the Canadian Open that Monahan attacked LIV Golf by asking his players, rhetorically: ‘Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?’

Somehow, Monahan is now partnering with Saudi Arabia.  

Even PGA players, who had loyally stood by the Tour rather than taking the Saudi’s millions, were caught off guard by the news.

‘Shocked and confused,’ one unidentified golfer told Barstool’s Dan Rapaport.

‘Disgusted,’ another said. ‘They didn’t tell us anything.’ 

‘Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with,’ read a tweet from golfer Mackenzie Hughes. 

And when asked if Norman knew about the deal, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told CNBC: ‘I made the call just before this [interview].’

Critics of the PGA-LIV merger wasted little time in condemning the deal, which is allegedly aimed at helping rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s tarnished reputation throughout the world. 

‘While this may have taken some golf fans and commentators by surprise, it’s really just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing,’ said Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s Head of Priority Campaigns and Individuals at Risk.

‘It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record.

‘Away from the glamour of the golf courses and the TV cameras there’s been mounting repression in Saudi Arabia, with government critics and human rights activists arrested, a spate of unfair trials, and with the death penalty widely used, including as a tool of political repression.’

Among several issues, Saudi Arabia has been attacked for its treatment of women, homosexuals, and for corporal punishment. Last year, the kingdom executed nearly 200 people (compared to 18 in the United States).

Furthermore, in 2018, Saudi Arabia drew the ire of the United States with the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi was invited to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was murdered and dismembered. 

‘Last year alone, the Saudi authorities executed 196 people, the highest number for at least 30 years, and the Leeds University PhD student Salma al-Shehab was given a long jail sentence for tweeting her support for Saudi women’s rights activists,’ Jakens continued.

‘The world of golf may be about to put one of its most high-profile commercial battles behind it, but it’s vital that this latest surge in Saudi sportswashing isn’t allowed to obscure the increasingly dire human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.’

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, claimed on Twitter that the PGA was rejecting the idea of a merger only months earlier. 

‘So weird,’ Murphy tweeted. ‘PGA officials were in my office just months ago talking about how the Saudis’ human rights record should disqualify them from having a stake in a major American sport.

‘I guess maybe their concerns weren’t really about human rights?’

Speaking with the Associated Press, Monahan acknowledged his apparent about-face. 

‘I understand the criticism,’ Monahan said. ‘For me, you take the information you have at the time and make decisions in the best interests. Things have changed. This was the right time to have this conversation.’ 

Saudi Arabia’s PIF has been in a spending mood this month.

On Monday, it was revealed that the fund will be taking control of the country’s four top soccer clubs on top of its ownership of Newcastle United, although specific compensation has not been reported. 

One of the clubs, Al-Nassr, recently signed Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo to a two-and-a-half-year deal worth a gargantuan $315 million per season.

Meanwhile, Argentine World Cup winner Lionel Messi, 35, is reportedly poised to sign for Al-Hilal this week after he was offered a staggering $428m per season.

Messi has just played his final match for French club Paris Saint-Germain. He has been working as a travel ambassador for Saudi Arabia since last year, earning $31m-a-year.

Monday’s announcement said the PIF will own 75 percent of each club.

Al-Rumayyan crowed about the merger in a statement released Tuesday.  

‘Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,’ Al-Rumayyan said. ‘We are proud to partner with the PGA TOUR to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide. 

‘We are committed to unifying, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and offering the highest-quality product to the many millions of long-time fans globally, while cultivating new fans. 

The PGA Tour will maintain its tax-exempt status despite the merger, according to the release. 

Monahan is expected to be the new entity’s Commissioner. Both he and Al-Rumayyan will be on the new entity’s board, along with current PGA board members Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne. 

The fate players who defected from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf remain unclear. Some may be required to pay a fine, according to Rapaport. 

Similarly, the future of LIV’s team format remains undecided. Monahan said in a memo to players that the PGA will do an evaluation before deciding on how to integrate team golf into his tour.

‘They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,’ Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. ‘We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.’

LIV Golf is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, which has committed at least $2 billion to the circuit. But while the rebel tour has attracted media attention in the form of news articles, that publicity had yet to translate to any major media rights or sponsorship deals.

Currently LIV Golf events can be seen on CW and YouTube, although Nielsen ratings have been disappointing to say the least.  LIV Golf is no longer reporting viewer data after claiming that Nielsen’s audience measurements are inaccurate.

Golfweek Magazine reported last year that LIV came close to an agreement with Fox Sports about buying airtime, six years after the network parted ways with Norman, a former PGA star.

Despite the efforts of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to broker a deal between both parties, no agreement could be made.