Manchester United’s sale process is moving into high gear. According to The Daily Telegraph, the current owners of the Mancunian club have agreed to speed up discussions with two suitors, considered the most serious. They are British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, boss of the petrochemical group Ineos and already owner of OGC Nice, and Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, son of the former Prime Minister of Qatar and head of funds from of the Gulf emirate.
This second phase will allow these two suitors, the only ones who have publicly made their intentions known, to have access to the accounts of the Premier League club. They will be able to peel Manchester United’s trade agreements and examine the details of the Red Devils’ debt, amounting to 590 million euros in the latest financial report.
The owners hope to sell the club for five billion euros
The Ineos group and Jassim Bin Hamad Al Tahni will also be able to meet the Glazer family, heir to businessman Malcom Glazer who bought the club in 2005. These Americans hope to make five billion euros from this sale.
According to L’Équipe, a third case is still in the works to take control of the current third in the English championship, but goes further in this process managed by the investment bank Raine. This second phase can be slow, given the amount of information to be examined by the contenders for the takeover.
The Qatari offer comes from the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), of which Al Thani is the chairman. If it is not formally the same shareholder as the one who owns PSG, the possible investment of the emirate in the Mancunian club could have consequences for the champion of France.