A buyer was found for Manchester United – Newspaper Kommersant No. 9 (7454) dated 01/19/2023

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who tried to buy Chelsea last year, was the first to enter the competition, in which Manchester United is the main prize. His petrochemical corporation Ineos, which has already amassed a solid portfolio of sports assets, will try to gain control of one of the most famous football brands, which has recently turned into a rather problematic brand. In November, representatives of the Glaser family that owns it announced that they were ready to sell the club in the near future. It is believed that they want at least £5 billion for it.

On Wednesday, all leading British media resources such as The Times, The Guardian, BBC, reported that the petrochemical corporation Ineos, owned by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, has registered a bid for the right to acquire Manchester United. Mr. Ratcliffe was thus the first to officially announce such an intention since the change of ownership of the club was on the agenda.

Since 2005, it has been owned by the American Glazer family, which spent £790 million on the purchase of one of the most famous football brands. However, after a while it turned into a rather problematic brand.

Since 2013, after the retirement of legendary manager Alex Ferguson, Manchester United have not won significant trophies, and its financial situation cannot be called perfect.

According to Manchester accounts, last season the club lost £115.5m (£23m more than the previous season), while debt increased by 22% to reach £514.9m. repeatedly staged protests, urging the Glazers to leave. It is unlikely that the value of the brand is added by the fresh high-profile scandal associated with the parting of the team with its brightest star – the five-time winner of the Golden Ball Cristiano Ronaldo, who, in an interview before the World Cup in Qatar exposed sharply criticized the activities of the club management.

In November, the Glaser family revealed that they were considering various options for a “strategic development” of Manchester United, including a new investor or a sale.

The deal was entrusted to investment banks Raine Group and Rothschild & Co.

The first has fresh experience of participating in the process of changing the ownership of a top football club. It was the Raine Group that handled the £4.25 billion deal to sell Chelsea in the spring. The Glazer family, according to Sky Sports and the BBC, despite the problems, expects to earn even more for the club than Roman Abramovich earned for Chelsea – at least £ 5 billion, although the current capitalization of Manchester United, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, is more than two times less – about £ 2.2 billion.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that it was Jim Ratcliffe who first entered the race for possession of the club. Ineos and Mr. Ratcliffe have been investing in the sport for quite some time now. The crown jewel of his portfolio of sports assets is the strongest team in the world of cycling, which came under the wing of the company in 2019. Now it is called Ineos Grenadiers. In addition, Ineos is a partner of Formula 1. The British billionaire already owns football clubs, which, however, look extremely modest compared to Manchester United. This is the Swiss “Lausanne” and the French “Nice”.

The purchase of Manchester United, for which Jim Ratcliffe, who was born near Manchester, was ill as a child, could provide him with the creation of a large football “conglomerate”.

These were created by City Football Group (CFG) and Red Bull, which control several teams, including top ones (CFG, for example, owns Manchester City, Red Bull owns Leipzig), and have the ability to effectively develop players within the system.

Jim Ratcliffe in 2022 already had tried acquire a leading club in the English Premier League (EPL). He entered the competition, in which Chelsea was the prize, but lost it to a consortium led by American entrepreneur Todd Boehley. Commenting on his current actions, the BBC suggests that just that defeat, which happened largely due to the fact that he joined the fight for the London asset much later than other contenders, forced Mr. Ratcliffe to take the lead this time. It is assumed that the Glazers will formally start collecting applications from potential buyers only in February.

Alexey Dospekhov