2023-04-30 03:00:00
While the final offers for the takeover of Manchester United were to be submitted late Friday evening, the Glazers, owners of the club, will have to decide after stretching the sale process as much as possible and maintaining the vagueness of their intentions.
The price of almost 7 billion euros that the American private bank Raine had suggested to them will most likely not be reached, the offers of the second round having apparently not reached 6 billion EUR, which would still be a world record.
And in the five months that this soap opera has already lasted, the scenario of an American reign extending to Old Trafford, however unpopular after 18 years, has steadily gained in credibility.
At the end of November, the Glazers had also announced that they wanted to evaluate “all the options”, stressing that there could “be no assurance that (…) this will lead to a transaction involving the company.
Only three takeover candidates have made themselves known.
Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus, who was invited from the second call for tenders, but who announced that he would not improve his offer, denouncing “a farce whose aim is to maximize profits sellers at the expense of Manchester United”, seems out of the running.
So there remains on one side the president of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani who wants to take over 100% of the club, get rid of its some 700 million euros in debt and invest in the center. drive and Old Trafford.
Inasmuch as he appears to have the greatest financial muscle, even if his ties to Qatari public funds are unclear, one would imagine that the most generous offer will come from this side.
On the other, there is British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, owner of the petrochemical group Ineos and a fan of the club since his childhood.
He only wanted to take over the 69% controlled by the Glazers, the remaining 31% belonging to various institutional investors, but he had warned from the start that he would not pay “crazy sums for things that one regrets by the following”.
According to the English press, he would have recently opened the door to a transaction allowing Joel and Avram Glazer, co-presidents of the Red Devils, to remain with just under 20% of the capital, while allowing Kevin, Edward, Bryan Glazer and Darcie Glazer Kassewitz to leave the club, as long as he has 50% and control of the club.
It is not certain that the two brothers will accept a position as minority shareholders and several investment funds, such as Elliot Investment Management and Carlyle Group, are ready to work on an arrangement that would allow them both to buy out the share of those who want to leave and then invest.
A scenario feared above all by Manchester United supporters who harbor a fierce hatred for the Glazers, whose departure has been demanded at every match for many months.
“We have a pressing need for investment, which, undoubtedly, requires a change of ownership”, had recently declared in a press release the Manchester United supporters’ foundation, the MUST, which was also alarmed by the time taken by the procedure. .
“With a summer transfer window only a few weeks away, news of this new delay and continuing uncertainty is very worrying…”the process (must be) completed without no longer wait”.
The risk of curbing the momentum created by Erik ten Hag, on the bench since the summer of 2022 and which took Manchester United to a League Cup victory, the FA Cup final and a probable qualification for the Champions League, is real.
But the Glazers who presided over one of United’s worst spells, which have not been champions for 10 years and whose turnover has fallen below those of local rivals City and Liverpool, probably have none. cure and their final decision is not expected for several days.
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