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Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani made a new, improved, debt-free, world-record bid for Manchester United before Wednesday’s 9pm deadline.
Sheikh Jassim believes it is the best bid for the club, the fans and the community.
It is yet to be confirmed if Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group submitted an improved bid, as they had been expected to, before the Raine Group – who are marketing the sale – closed for business at 5pm in New York (9pm UK time).
There have been at least five bids and there could be as many as eight, although not all of those bids are to buy the club outright.
At least half are expected to be from those interested in a minority stake or those who are willing to provide financing options for other parties.
Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe are the leading contenders but there is no favourite at present, with the highest first-round bids having valued the club at around £4.5bn – well short of the Glazer family’s £6bn asking price.
Other known bidders so far include Elliott Management, while Ares, MSD Partners and Oaktree Capital are also said to be interested.
There is no guarantee the Glazer family will sell United and they may decide to sell a minority stake and use capital raised to pay down debt and invest for growth.
The Raine Group and the Glazers will take around a week to evaluate the new bids and decide on their next move.
One bidder could be given exclusivity, although it is more likely there will be another round of bids with a smaller group of preferred bidders.
Ratcliffe and his INEOS delegation have been described as impressive and sophisticated in their approach having visited the club for six hours last Friday.
Ratcliffe says he will not pay a “stupid” price for United but his interest in the club would be “purely in winning things”, calling the club a “community asset”.
It was previously understood the Qatari bidders were determined not to pay over the odds for the club, but that stance has softened in recent days coinciding with a delegation’s visit to Old Trafford.
A Qatari delegation travelled to Manchester from London by train and received a warm welcome. Talks were held across 10 hours – a lot longer than expected.
Sheikh Jassim and members of his team had been to Old Trafford as fans before, and the focus of this visit was to get a perspective on what they could do with their capital investment regarding infrastructure, youth development and the women’s team.
Any bid of more than £3.75bn would break the world record fee for a sports club set when the Denver Broncos were sold last summer.
The Washington Commanders are also up for sale and are expected to change hands for more than that as well.
How does Ratcliffe’s bid compare?
Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
“He is somebody who can afford to buy Manchester United. How do we know that? Well, he’s one of the richest people in the UK, he tried and failed to buy Chelsea where he was willing to spend up to £4.5bn for the club.
“The issue for him which makes it a bit trickier is in the banking sector over the past couple of weeks. Two banks in America have gone out of business, the second biggest bank in Switzerland has been taken over by the biggest bank in Switzerland and share prices of banks have been falling.
“The question people are asking is: has this made it harder for Sir Jim Ratcliffe to raise the money he needs to buy Manchester United? I think it probably has made it a little more complicated, but he’s still in a position to finance a deal for the club.
“Manchester United were very impressed with Ratcliffe and his delegation when they visited Old Trafford and Carrington on Friday, but it’s difficult to get into a bidding war with the Qataris who, I’m being told, are willing to overpay to buy Manchester United.”
What happens next?
Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
“What’s happening is some very well-paid bankers at Raine’s headquarters in New York are looking at their emails now, checking out the bids, looking at the numbers, and they will be evaluating the bids and discussing with the Glazer family on what the next steps should be.
“This is going to take a few days. I think there will be developments next week. We could find out next week whether there is going to be one preferred bidder or more than one preferred bidder and whether there will be another round of bids.
“It’s been reported that there were going to be five, six, seven, maybe eight bids – some of the main bidders are thinking that’s not the case. Some of the people close to them think that has just been some bid theatre to try and get the Qataris to bid against themselves, in a sense. To pay more than they need to.
“The big question is: are the Glazers really serious about selling the club? That is the big unknown, still.”
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