Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS groups have submitted an official offer to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family. It came following a bid from Qatar’s Shiekh Jassim bin Hamad AI Thani, reportedly to be in the region of €4.5 billion.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man in run to buy Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, 70, is Britain’s richest man. Reports suggest he had hired Wall Street giants JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to provide advice to him during his bid.
Recent reports suggest Ratcliffe has made an official bid to buy the club and has hopes to keep back Manchester in Manchester United in case his bid goes successful.
The chemicals magnate, who’s reportedly worth nearly £13.3 bn, was also on the run to buy Chelsea last year. There he offered a last-minute £4.25 bn to buy the London club in May, besides being a season ticket holder at the club.
Club officials have a hope that a sale can be closed by the end of March, with Ratcliffe and AI Thani competing to become the next owner of one of the country’s most popular teams.
AI Thani, the son of a former Prime Minister, had earlier mentioned his intentions to buy the club and get it back to its initial glory. Though the present figure is indicative, a clearer figure will be existent following a closer inspection of the finances.
Two strong competitors
The two billionaires are in the run now to close the process of purchasing the club. Ratcliffe comes with initial experience in this field.
After buying the Swiss team FC Lausanne-Sport, he purchased French club Nice in 2019 for £91m. In a recent interview, he told the Financial Times,
“I’m a lifelong Manchester United fan. I was there in that most remarkable match in 1999 in Barcelona. This is deeply etched in my mind.”
He also said that the Glazer family is very gentle. He has met Joel and Avram. Adding further, he said,
“They don’t want to sell it. It’s owned by the six children of the father. If it had been for sale in summer, yes, we would probably have had a go following on from the Chelsea thing. But we can’t sit around hoping one day Manchester United will become available.”
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