The Premier League giants, Manchester United, are up for sale and there are multiple bidders vying for the ownership.
One of the interested parties is Jim Ratcliffe, a British billionaire, who has publicly announced his bid. The other bidder is Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, a Qatari banker. Raine, the merchant bank, is assisting the club in assessing the offers.
The current owners of Manchester United, the Glazer family, announced in November that they were conducting a strategic review and considering the sale of the club as one of the options. The Americans have set a price of $6 billion for the sale.
Jim Ratcliffe, who is the chairman of INEOS, and his team had talks with the club on Friday during their visit to Old Trafford and the Carrington training complex.
However, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ratcliffe stated that he would not pay a “stupid” price for the 20-time English champions. With more bidders expected to enter the race, the future ownership of Manchester United remains uncertain.
“How do you decide the price of a painting?” he said. “How do you decide the price of a house? It’s not related to how much it cost to build or how much it cost to paint.
“What you don’t want to do is pay stupid prices for things because then you regret it subsequently.”
Ratcliffe, who already owns French club Nice, said his interest in United would be “purely in winning things,” calling the club a “community asset,” rather than a financial one.
Sky News said Tuesday that Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe were understood to be preparing second bids before a Wednesday deadline for second offers, adding that a number of other parties could enter the bidding process.
Elliott Investment Management has also reportedly made it through to the second stage of the process, although the firm is believed to be offering funding rather than a takeover.
