Frank Christian
Manchester United’s board is expected to vote on Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s bid to buy a 25% share in the club for circa £1.3bn in the coming days, with sources close to the Ineos owner confident his offer will be accepted.
Ratcliffe’s offer values the whole club at £6.2bn, while United is valued at around $3.2bn (£2.63m). It is thought that Sir Jim, who is one of Britain’s richest people, may have offered a premium price for his potential holding in exchange to gain sporting control of the club. If so, this would throw the future of the team and United’s football operations into doubt. Erik ten Hag is the manager and John Murtough, the football director.
The six Glazer siblings are majority shareholders and are set to vote on Ratcliffe’s bid – if accepted, it would subsequently be formally ratified.
Ratcliffe is now the only publicly declared bidder after Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani informed United’s owners, the Glazers, that he had withdrawn his 100% offer of £5bn-plus for the club.
The decision came after further recent discussions in which the Glazers made clear their asking price – thought to be £6.4bn – and Sheikh Jassim pulled out due to what sources close to him described as “a fanciful and outlandish valuation”. He had also pledged a further $1.7bn to finance transfers, plans for a new stadium and training facilities, plus city and community regeneration projects and, separately, to clear the near £1bn club debt.
Ratcliffe’s closing in on buying a 25% stake comes 11 months after the Glazers began the process. On 22 November last year, they stated they were “commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives” in a move that signalled their proprietorship, which began in 2005, could end. The club said the process would consider a number of options “including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company”.
