Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim of Qatar are in the DARK over the Glazers’ thinking and timetable for sale of Man United, with stories about the Brit being in pole position believed to be a play to squeeze out even BIGGER bids
- Ratcliffe’s bid team have been given no indication of where they currently stand
- They feel their offer to leave the Glazers with 20 per cent of the club is attractive
- Bidder Ratcliffe is ‘eyeing a move for Graham Potter to become Nice manager’
Both the principal bidders for Manchester United are in the dark over the Glazers’ thinking and the timetable for any sale.
Sources close to both Sir Jim Ratcliffe and to Sheikh Jassim of Qatar feel that stories about Ratcliffe now being in pole position may in fact be part of strategic play by New York bankers Raine to squeeze yet bigger bids from both parties.
Ratcliffe’s bid team are understood to have been given no indication of where they currently stand but feel comfortable that their offer to leave the Glazers with 20 per cent of the club is attractive.
It is not clear how such a deal would be constructed, given another 31 per cent of the club is owned by non-Glazer shareholders.
But if Ratcliffe bought 49 per cent of the Glazers’ current 69 per cent holding for at least £2.5billion, it would value the club at more than £5bn.
United’s share price on the New York Stock Exchange had fallen to $18.12 (£14.54) by close of trading on Friday, giving the club a market cap of $2.96bn (£2.38bn).
Any sale above £5bn would be extraordinary, and yet it seems Raine and the Glazers still think they can get more.
Those with knowledge of Sheikh Jassim’s thinking expect that rumours will continue to circulate about the ebb and flow of the auction, and the sheikh remains in the dark on when things may finally conclude or which way they’ll go.
There is an acceptance that Raine and/or the Glazers might simply be trying to maximise the sales price, but Sheikh Jassim also remains confident in his bid of around £5bn for 100 per cent of the club.
‘Ultimately it’s up to the Glazers what they want to do and where we go from here,’ said one source.
‘The process has always been a very fluid one and, crucially, has never had a set timeframe – though clearly the fans would like one for understandable reasons.’