Sheikh Jassim has modified his opinion as recent Man Utd particulars come to gentle

Jul 01, 2023 at 9:42 AM
Sheikh Jassim has modified his opinion as recent Man Utd particulars come to gentle

Sheikh Jassim not sees himself in a battle with Sir Jim Ratcliffe to purchase Manchester United, it has been claimed. The Qatari billionaire is in pole place to accumulate the membership. With the Glazers but to supply readability on the state of affairs, nonetheless, it’ll be fascinating to see what occurs.

According to journalist Ben Jacobs, Sheikh Jassim feels Ratcliffe isn’t a frontrunner within the race.

Instead, the Qatari billionaire now feels as if it’s solely the Glazers who characterize an impediment as he seems to be to seal a takeover this summer time.

“Still, we’ve the identical state of affairs the place Nine Two Foundation and INEOS are within the course of,” Jacobs instructed GiveMeSport.

“Maybe the only difference at this point is that there’s a real feeling on the Qatar side, that it will now be a case of them being successful, or a no sale, possibly with some kind of financing baked in.

“So, instead of Qatar looking this as them versus Ratcliffe, which has been the narrative for much of the takeover, I think Nine Two Foundation feel like it’s about whether they’re picked or whether the Glazers opt for a no sale with some form of financing, then put the club on the market at a later date.”

“I think the investment plan of Sheikh Jassim is very similar to that of the Friedkin Group at Roma but on a larger scale,” he mentioned.

“The group bought a 86.6 per cent majority equity of AS Roma for £510million in 2020, of which £331million of that was debt amassed by the former owner.

“In a similar sense, the Qatar bid includes paying off the gross debt of £725million at Old Trafford.

“The Friedkin Group needed 95 per cent equity to delist the Italian club from the stock exchange – a stake that Jassim would own at Old Trafford if he successfully won the takeover.

“I believe Jassim will want to do similar and delist United from the stock exchange should he become the new owner.

“His bid for the club is around $6.3billion (£4.95billion), with a large majority of that fee set to be paid to the Glazers and the club’s shareholders.”

“It is the opposite to the Ratcliffe bid, where the debt of the club will likely remain and the club could continue to be traded on the stock exchange.”

The Glazers have owned United since 2005, with the membership successful 5 Premier League titles since then – however none since 2013.