It has been 176 days since the Glazer family announced they were considering selling Manchester United. The process has been lengthy, as expected for a potential £6bn transaction, and one vocal bidder, Thomas Zilliacus, pulled out after the Glazers’ decision to go to a third round. A deadline of 28 April was set for those third bids, and since then the talking has continued with a fourth bid – nearer to £5bn – being made by one of the leading candidates. This begs the question: why has this still not been resolved? The obvious reason is either no bidder has reached the price the Glazer family are looking for, or the family believe they can get more out of those who have bid. The Glazers bought the club for £790m in 2005 and have established a current valuation of between £5bn and £6bn.
The only publicly known bidders are Qatari billionaire Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos group. Sheikh Jassim wants to buy 100% of United, while Ineos want the Glazer family’s 69% shareholding and are happy to leave the rest of the club on the New York Stock Exchange. Elliott Investment Group has revised its involvement from purely offering funding to being prepared to buy a minority stake. The US firm has not said exactly how big a ‘minority’ it is willing to purchase. Ratcliffe met all three bid deadlines, as did Sheikh Jassim. Initially, Ineos wanted the Glazer ownership, which is around 69%. That has changed and they are now willing to reduce that as long as they stay in control, so 50.01% minimum. That would allow co-chairmen Avram and Joel Glazer to remain investors in the club. Sheikh Jassim wants 100% control and his fourth bid is nearer to £5bn. There have been other groups, including Elliott Investments and Sixth Street, who have offered to take a minority stake in exchange for funds that could be used to upgrade Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground.
It is thought the Ineos bid still values the club higher but evidently, they would not be buying it all. The view has always been the Glazer family would not settle for less than £5bn, which is twice what Todd Boehly and his consortium spent to buy Chelsea 12 months ago, although they also pledged £1.75m to improve Stamford Bridge. It should be noted that unlike the Chelsea sale last year – there is no deadline for this deal.
At the very least, this creates uncertainty for manager Erik ten Hag. He needs to know if he can sign a striker such as England skipper Harry Kane or Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, plus an elite midfielder, or if he must set his sights lower. Ten Hag needs to know his transfer budget but he does not know yet.
There is no consensus among Man Utd fan groups about who should buy the club. Some want Sheikh Jassim, others want Ineos, others would prefer the club to run itself through the revenue it generates. What they seem to be united in is a demand for the Glazers to leave. Former United captain Gary Neville said this week on social media the Glazers were “making it up as they go along” and need to get out “by the end of May”. Many fans would argue even that would be too long.
The ball remains in the Glazers’ court and Sheikh Jassim’s camp wonder if the family even want to sell. Until his latest bid, the Ineos side had been confident, feeling his offer to reduce what he wants to buy from the entire 69% of the club owned by the Glazers to just over 50% to allow co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer to remain can swing the deal. But there are no certainties. If Sheikh Jassim in particular does not complete a deal, could another Qatari attempt to buy into a different Premier League club be successful? That in turn would make it even harder for United to compete for trophies – and cost the Glazers even more in the long-run. The wait for answers goes on.