Manchester United board is likely to vote on Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s bid for 25% share
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plan to buy a 25% stake in Manchester United for around £1.3 billion is set to be approved by the club’s board in the coming days, according to sources close to the Ineos owner.
Ratcliffe’s offer values United at £6.2 billion, while the club as a whole is worth around $3.2 billion (£2.63 billion). Sir Jim, one of Britain’s wealthiest persons, is reported to have proposed a premium price for his potential ownership in exchange for sporting control of the club.
If this is the case, the future of the squad and United’s football operations would be jeopardized. The manager is Erik ten Hag, and the football director is John Murtough.
The Six Glazer siblings are majority shareholders and will vote on Ratcliffe’s bid, which if accepted will be formally ratified.
Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani notified the Glazers that he had withdrawn his 100% offer of more than £5 billion for the club, leaving Ratcliffe as the only officially disclosed bidder.
The decision was reached following additional recent conversations in which the Glazers made plain their asking price – reported to be £6.4bn – and Sheikh Jassim withdrew due to what people close to him characterized as “a fanciful and outlandish valuation.”
He had also offered a further $1.7 billion to finance transfers, plans for a new stadium and training facilities, as well as city and community regeneration projects, as well as to eliminate the club’s over £1 billion debt.
Ratcliffe’s pursuit of a 25% interest comes 11 months after the Glazers initiated the process. On November 22, last year, they announced that they were “beginning a process to explore strategic alternatives,” implying that their proprietorship, which began in 2005, was coming to an end.
The club stated that the process will explore “new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company.”
