British investor set to buy Mallorca soccer club

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands - Mallorca chairman Vicente Grande has reached a preliminary agreement to sell the Spanish league club to a British investor for $57 million. Grande confirmed that Paul Davidson, who heads British-based pipefitting company Fluid Leader Group Plc., is ready to buy 93.6 percent of the club, with the two sides having until Sept. 1 to finalize the deal. "At this moment, our accountants are doing audits so that he knows exactly what the economic state of Mallorca is," Grande told reporters at the club's Ono Estadi stadium. Grande-owned Grupo Drac owns the La Liga club, which has debts of $945 million. Grande said it was unlikely the club would make any movements on the transfer market after having sold the league's leading scorer in Spain striker Dani Guiza to Turkish club Fenerbahce for a... [read full story]