The Qataris will not match the £6bn valuation of the Glazers for Manchester United and will walk away if the price is not right. Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani is willing to acquire at a reasonable price but will not overspend. There is widespread agreement that whoever buys United will have to overpay, but Sheikh Jassim will not be irresponsible. Last week, his father Sheikh Hamad questioned bidding for United by saying he “doesn’t like the investment”. Sheikh Jassim’s preliminary proposal for Manchester United is worth around £4.5 billion. Sheikh Jassim believes in the same investment principles as his father. He used to run his father’s investing company and both men are described as “clever, intelligent, cautious investors”.
Sheikh Jassim has been approached by other clubs in the past, but he has always preferred to buy United. He is just interested in purchasing the entire club. He has no desire to make a minority investment. During the next two weeks, at least three bids for Manchester United have been invited to Manchester for presentations, talks, and access to extensive financial information about the club. Next week, a delegation from Sheikh Jassim and the second leading bidder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, is expected at Old Trafford.
Some of the bidders had expected to be given exclusivity by this point. There are fears that the Glazers would employ minority bids to drive up the sale price or that they will refuse to sell the club. It’s worth noting that Qatar Sports Investments paid €70 million for Paris Saint-Germain in 2011 and now has proposals for minority holdings for €4.2 billion. QSI has put €1.8 billion into the club.
“That’s an excellent question. I believe some of the bidders are wondering, “What precisely is going on at the moment?” since if the Glazers wanted to sell, surely one of us would be granted exclusivity at this point. That means the process would have moved rapidly, indicating that the Glazers were serious about selling the club,” Kaveh Solhekol said about the Qataris bid for Manchester United. “I believe there are concerns that the Glazers do not want to sell, or that they only want to sell a minority ownership. And they may be utilising the interest in purchasing a minority stake to try to drive up the club’s price.”
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