Qatar overtook Sir Jim Ratcliffe as Manchester United sale enters ‘final’
The Manchester United takeover process is currently in its final stages.
According to the report, Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani is now leading the race to buy the club ahead of INEOS billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Last week, The People’s Person covered a report suggesting the Nine Two Foundation, the investment vehicle run by Sheikh Jassim, was negotiating the possibility of entering into an exclusivity period with the Glazers.
This was later disputed. It was also revealed that the Glazers could still be technically in charge when the new season begins in August. Even if a preferred bidder is named in the next few days, an eight to twelve week approval process is expected to follow.
The report says: “There is an impression, both publicly and privately, that Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani’s Nine Two Foundation has outperformed Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos bid, having made a fifth and final bid this month.”
“However, it is understood that the two sides were still in active and extensive discussions last week and few people behind the scenes are prepared to make any firm bets.”
“It’s partly because of the opacity of the process and the uncertainty as to the Glazers’ exact motives – and also because of the way Raine, the U.S. bank handling the sale, has repeatedly attempted to ‘to increase the price.” now at the end.
It details the scandalous leveraged takeover of United by the Glazers 18 years ago.
The American family borrowed £540m to take over Old Trafford. Years later, the debt is still staggeringly high, totaling £535.7m. Recently, the Premier League voted to limit leveraged buyouts to around 65% of a club’s value. The motivation behind this is to reduce the type of acquisitions the Glazers used to buy United.
Unfortunately for United fans, this change in rules and regulations came 18 years too late.
