Man Utd takeover: Bidder ‘overpays by £2.5bn’ to become ‘confident’ over agreeing deal with Glazers | OneFootball

Man Utd owner Avram Glazer pictured at Wembley.

According to reports, Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim is ‘growing in confidence’ that he will win the race to become the new majority stakeholder of Man Utd.

The Premier League giants have been up for sale since last November. At the time, the Glazer family proclaimed that they would “evaluate all options” and a full takeover was among their options.

There have since been three official rounds of bidding, with Sheikh Jassim and INEOS’ Sir Jim Ratcliffe the likely candidates to oust the Glazers if the current owners decide to give up control of Man Utd.

90min are reporting that Sheikh Jassim is ‘growing in confidence that he will win the race to buy the club’. The sale delay has been ’caused by internal disagreements between the six siblings in the Glazer family’.

While Avram and Joel Glazer ‘favour’ Ratcliffe’s partial takeover, the other four siblings ‘prefer a full sale’ which would be possible ‘through accepting Qatar’s offer’.

Journalist Ben Jacobs – who has regularly reported on the takeover sage in recent months – is claiming that Ratcliffe’s current offer “will struggle to gain board approval”.

“Nine Two Foundation [Sheikh Jassim’s group] are more positive following their improved fifth offer, but there’s also still skepticism over the Glazers intentions. Those close to the group view the most likely outcomes as a Qatar win or a no sale & are ‘still in the dark’,” Jacobs tweeted.

“INEOS sources insist it has not been communicated to them that they are out the race. But insiders indicate their bid will struggle to gain board approval in its current form…

“Raine Group continue to engage with multiple suitors. But there is a growing sense Ratcliffe must alter his structure if he’s to get board approval. Nine Two Foundation’s bid is a cleaner transaction.”

Vive Mukherjee – a chartered accountant and football finance analyst – has told Football Insider that Sheikh Jassim’s latest £5.5bn offer is seeing him ‘overpay by £2.5bn’ as their true value is ‘between £3.4bn-£3.9bn’.

“There are 54,500 ordinary A shareholders and the Glazers own 110,000 of class B Shares at Manchester United,” Mukherjee told Football Insider. “Today’s share price sits at around $25, but the market value has soared to over $26 when we have seen reports about Qatar winning the bid.

“If the Glazers sold at the same rate as the stock market, the value of the club would sit around £3bn to £3.4bn. However, there is likely a premium for the Glazers’ shares – estimated at around 20 per cent the value would total between £3.4bn-£3.9bn.

“The latest bid of Sheikh Jassim is well in excess of the market value before even taking into account the investment in servicing the debt. Even when using the Markham model to value the club, the estimated value of Manchester United before the effects of Covid-19 was only £2.4billion.”

Manchester United Sheikh Jassim