Manchester United Plc shares surged Tuesday after a tweet from a Qatari newspaper spurred speculation that the Premier League football club is closer to being sold.
(Bloomberg) — Manchester United Plc shares surged Tuesday after a tweet from a Qatari newspaper spurred speculation that the Premier League football club is closer to being sold.
The stock soared as much as 15%, the biggest one-day jump since February.
Al-Watan’s tweet referred to “press reports” that a bid for the club from Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim was a “success.” It didn’t identify the reports.
The tweet was published at 9:41 p.m. Qatar time on Monday and went on to be cited by international newspapers such as the Daily Mail.
“This sale process is extremely hard to handicap given all the twists and turns,” said Cabot Henderson, who focuses on arbitrage and special situations at JonesTrading.
“It has not been the first time Qatari media has published optimistic stories on the process,” he added.
Both Qatari officials and Manchester United were unavailable to comment on the bidding process.
Sheikh Jassim and Ineos head Jim Ratcliffe are battling for control of Manchester United, which is currently owned by the Glazer family. Earlier this month, Jassim submitted his fifth and final bid for club.
As of last close, the company was valued at $3.28 billion. The stock added over $340 million to its market capitalization on Tuesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
–With assistance from David Hellier, Omar Tamo, Yiqin Shen and Carmen Reinicke.
(Updates details on stock move starting in second paragraph.)
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