Charlton Athletic have confirmed they have received "an indicative cash offer" to buy the club from a Dubai-based investment company.

The club confirmed in a statement that it will enter a period of due diligence with Zabeel Investments.

The statement added: "Should the offer be made formally to shareholders, the board would recommend shareholders to accept it.

"There is, however, no certainty that a formal offer will be made."

Zabeel Investments have been looking for an opportunity to invest in an English club for some time having recently been linked with Newcastle.

Charlton were last year the subject of interest from a group of businessmen from the Middle East and Europe, but takeover talks were later called off.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to the Dubai group's interest in Charlton

"The board firmly believes that a successful outcome for this transaction would be beneficial to shareholders and employees of Charlton, all fans of the club and the local community as a whole," Derek Chappell, chairman of Charlton Athletic plc and Richard Murray, chairman of the club said.

Mohammed Al Hashimi, executive chairman of Zabeel Investments, added: "We feel now is the right time to make a strategic, long term investment in Charlton and get CAFC back to the English Premier League where they belong.

"The passion of the fans at Charlton, the heritage of the club and the unique status it enjoys in the community make it an exciting proposition for us."

Ben Hayes, the Charlton supporters representative director who is on the board at the club, said the announcement came as a surprise.

"We've known for a long time that the club was looking for extra investment," he told BBC London 94.9.

"The existing director has put a large amount of money into the club during the summer but these sort of deals by their very nature have to be kept secret. It was as much a surprise for me at five o'clock as everyone else.

"We all hope that this sort of investment would make the ground even bigger, to a 40,000 capacity and that could be filled every week in the Premier League but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves."

The Addicks currently lie 14th in the Championship having been relegated from the Premier League in 2007.

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