Britain’s richest billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has offered to buy 25% of Manchester United’s shares from the Glazer family, but this deal is not expected to be voted on at the Old Trafford team’s board meeting on Thursday. this Thursday.
Initially, the Glazer family agreed to a board meeting to vote to sell 25% of the “red devils” shares to Sir Jim Ratcliffe. However, now, Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have to wait even longer to take control of Manchester United as the Glazers are said to have broken that deal with Britain’s richest billionaire, the Mirror writes.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe looks set to buy a 25% stake in MU for £1.4 billion, after his only competitor, Qatari billionaire Sheikh Jassim, withdrew from the buyout process. Old Trafford. The Glazer family and the MU board of directors are expected to vote on whether to accept the sale of 25% of MU shares to Sir Jim Ratcliffe at a meeting on Thursday.
But today (October 18), The Telegraph reported that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team will have to wait a little longer because there are still important factors to resolve.
With Ratcliffe expected to take over all football operations at MU, there are still some things that need to be discussed further before being voted on. The British newspaper did not give any timeline for the MU board of directors to resume meetings to approve the plan to sell shares to England’s richest billionaire.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe still has to wait to receive the Glazer family’s nod. PHOTO: GETTY
The Glazers first put MU on the ” transfer market ” on November 22 last year and this process continues to drag on. Although Ratcliffe wants to complete the deal so he can take control of MU’s football operations before the January transfer window, the Glazers are in no hurry.
According to the Mirror, Ratcliffe wants to take control of the football business at MU when the deal is successful. The 70-year-old wants to bring his people back from INEOS, which means Richard Arnold’s position as chief executive and John Murtough as director of football at MU could be threatened.
There are 12 people on the MU board of directors who will vote on Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s offer to buy 25% of shares, but the final decision still belongs to the Glazer family. The six Glazer siblings currently own 69% of MU’s shares, but they have up to 96% of the voting rights due to a “complex dual share structure”.
The appearance of Sir Jim Ratcliffe puts Richard Arnold’s position at MU under threat. PHOTO: GETTY
It has been 330 days since the Glazers announced “a process of exploring strategic options for the club”, throughout which the Glazers have made it clear that they are in no rush to relinquish control. controlled MU which they bought using “financial leverage” in 2005. The Glazer family borrowed money from the bank to buy MU and assigned that debt to the club itself.
The Glazer family has delayed making a decision to “finalize” the sale of MU for the past 11 months in the hope that the delay could cause Sir Jim Ratcliffe or Sheikh Jassim to increase the asking price to buy the Old Trafford team.
In the end, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim were still determined not to meet the “sky-high” valuation of MU from the American billionaire family. But Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s offer to buy a minority stake in MU is in line with the Glazer family’s current wishes.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Old Trafford. PHOTO: GETTY
Sir Jim Ratcliffe was born in Failsworth, Greater Manchester and has been a Manchester United fan since childhood. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is currently the owner and operator of two clubs, Nice and Lausanne, and he also invests in the Mercedes F1 racing team and sailing racing team.