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Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, a son of Qatar’s former prime minister, on Friday launched a bid to buy Premier League soccer club Manchester United, whose American owners launched a formal sale process late last year.
A deal for United is expected to shatter records for the sale of a sports business. The club’s current majority owners, the Glazer family, are seeking a valuation as high as 7 billion pounds ($8.42 billion), Reuters has previously reported.
The deadline to put in a bid for Manchester United passed at 10pm on Friday and the Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and the richest man in Britain, Sir Jim Ratcliffe are the ones who have put in rival bids.
The Qatari Sheikh for instance want to restore Manchester United to their former glories with emphasis on youth and infrastructure.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos group and Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani launched rival bids for Manchester United on Friday.
Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, had indicated his intention to bid for the club last month and there was confirmation an offer from his company Ineos had been made just before the 10pm deadline set by Raine Group, who are organising the potential sale of the club on behalf of the Glazer family, reports Sky News.
The 70-year-old billionaire, who was born in Greater Manchester, was among the bidders for Chelsea when their ownership was available last year and is no stranger to big sporting investments.
He also owns cycling team INEOS Grenadiers, Ligue 1 side Nice, FC Lausanne-Sport, a Swiss Super League club, and owns a third of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
One insider says “if the Glazers don’t get top, top dollar then they aren’t going anywhere” but Sheikh Jassim is prepared to pay a world-record price for a sports club to buy Manchester United. The current record is the £3.75bn paid for the Denver Broncos NFL team.
