British billionaire and Manchester United fan Jim Ratcliffe officially joined the race to buy the English soccer giant.
(Bloomberg) — British billionaire and Manchester United fan Jim Ratcliffe officially joined the race to buy the English soccer giant.
“I can confirm that we have formally put ourselves into the process,” a spokesman for Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group AG, said by email. Ratcliffe becomes the first potential bidder to publicly declare an interest in purchasing the team.
Shares of Manchester United Plc gained as much as 1.6% on the news, first reported by The Times of London.
United’s stock soared in November on news that the current owners, the Florida-based Glazer family, were considering a potential sale of the team that has won the English Premier League 13 times.
United supporter groups have long called for a change in ownership amid a perceived lack of investment in playing staff and facilities. The team, one of the most iconic brands in global sports, has not won the top English division for almost a decade and failed to qualify for this season’s lucrative UEFA Champions League. It is on a stronger run at the moment, losing only one of its past 19 games in all competition under new manager Erik ten Hag.
Any sale of the club could value it at about £5 billion ($6.1 billion), Bloomberg News reported in August. United shares were little changed as of 2:04 p.m. in New York, giving the firm a valuation of $3.8 billion.
Ratcliffe — who’s worth $12.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — last year made a late bid for the West London club Chelsea, which was ultimately sold to a private equity consortium led by US billionaire Todd Boehly.
Saudi Arabia is also a potential bidder in Manchester United. Sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal told the BBC in November there was a lot of “interest and appetite” in both Manchester United and Liverpool in the kingdom and his government would support a private sector bid.
Bloomberg News reported last week that Manchester United, Liverpool Football Club Ltd or Tottenham Hotspur are among England’s top Premier League clubs being targeted by Qatar, the Middle Eastern nation buoyed from hosting the most expensive World Cup ever.
–With assistance from Giles Turner.
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