Juan Sartori is a new director at Sunderland AFC after passing the EFL checks to become a minority shareholder at Sunderland.
Donald had revealed last month that he was heading to Monaco to meet with an investor about potentially taking some stakes in Sunderland AFC.
He told TalkSport of his Monaco meeting: “I’ve told him about the deal. He’s good in football and good in business. It will be a minority stake.”
And it has now been confirmed, as was speculated at the time, that Uruguayan businessman Juan Sartori was the man he met at the weekend’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
What's more, he told BBC Newcastle that the Uruguayan millionaire is now going through league approval to come on board at the club.
So who is Juan Sartori and how much is he worth? Craig Johns takes a closer look at the businessman.
Who is Juan Sartori?
Juan Sartori is a Uruguayan-born businessman who is a founder and executive chairman of Union Group - a privately owned business which deals with agricultural, energy, forestry, infrastructure, minerals, oil and gas and real estate sectors in Latin America.
Sartori is 37-year-old and is a former Harvard student where he studied Business and Economics. He eventually graduated in 2002 for the same degree from HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
It was at the age of just 22 that he set up Union Group which the company that has made him his money.
What is Juan Sartori's net worth?
His exact net worth is not known, but he did not feature in the latest Forbes list of worldwide billionaires.
He can’t be far off that though.
After expanding the company into oil and energy it grew to have assets of over $1billion before he then sold it to the management team. He remains executive chairman at the company.
Even more wealth in the family
If that kind of money doesn’t get you excited then perhaps Sartori’s father-in-law might.
Sartori is married to the daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev - better known as the owner of AS Monaco.
Rybolovlev was ranked 79th on a list of the world’s richest men with an estimated worth of around $8.5 billion.
Sartori married Ekaterina in 2015 on the Greek island of Skorpios, which is owned by the Rybolovlev family.
So what is Juan Sartori's connection to Sunderland owner Stewart Donald?
Sartori led a takeover attempt at Oxford United last summer and had met with minority shareholder Donald about the takeover.
That is how the pair know one-another.
Ultimately, Sartori’s takeover was unsuccessful as Darryl Eales decided not to sell.
What did Sartori say about Oxford United?
He told the Oxford Mail : “I am sad about it, but what can you do?
“We worked a lot over the last three months and did due diligence, but it was Darryl’s decision to carry on at the club. We put forward a very strong project, a very credible project.
“It was a very ambitious project but we needed to buy the club to put it into action.
“It involved real estate and the stadium.
“We had a project on the football side that involved strengthening the academy and having a higher playing budget.
“Then we would see a value on the brand that could be developed commercially.
“It would have involved the whole football club.”
He added: “Of course you need the results for anything to happen, but if all of that was aligned I believe it would have happened.
“We wanted to go as high as possible – the Championship and Premier League.
“Could we have made it? Of course. I have no doubt about it. I really think it is a great club with a great platform.
“Oxford was a special project because it had been brought to me by a group of local people that I wanted to involve.
“I thought we could do a good job with those people.
“I am disappointed, but this is business.”
The local people he was going into business with are believed to have been Donald and his right-hand man Charlie Methven - who has also joined him at Sunderland .
Hopefully, after meetings this weekend, he feels the same positivity about investing in Sunderland!
