Manchester United are being prepared for sale – Sport – Kommersant

The Glaser family, which owns Manchester United, one of the most popular football clubs in the world, has said it is considering selling it. According to Sky Sports, the Glazers would like to receive at least £ 5 billion for an asset that they have owned for 17 years. The price seems too high. Indeed, at the moment, another top English club, Liverpool, is being sold. It is estimated much more modestly – at £3.5 billion.

English Premier League club Manchester United may soon change owners. According to Sky Sports, the Glazer family, who paid £790m for the club in 2005, have confirmed that they are considering various options for the strategic development of a football asset, including attracting a new investor or selling. The deal was entrusted to investment banks Raine Group and Rothschild & Co. It should be noted that the former has fresh experience of participating in the sale of a top football club. It was the Raine Group that handled the deal to sell Chelsea in the spring.

The Glazers would like at least £5bn for the club, according to Sky Sports. Daily Mail citing sources, he claims that the requests of Manchester owners can reach £ 9 billion. However, both the first and the second amount do not seem to be based on realities. After all, the current capitalization of Manchester United, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, barely exceeds $2.4 billion (about £2.2 billion). And this is after the growth of 17%, which happened on the news about the impending sale. At the same time, the financial position of the club can hardly be called brilliant. From the reports of Manchester it follows that last season losses amounted to £ 115.5 million (£ 23 million more than the season before). At the same time, debt also increased by 22%, reaching £514.9 million.

But as Manchester United co-CEOs Avram and Joel Glazer said in a statement, Manchester United, in their version, has some kind of monstrous fan base. Messrs. Glazers estimated it at 1.1 billion people. If this were indeed the case, then many people would be willing to pay the required £ 5 billion for Manchester United. But it is possible that the club somewhat overestimate his popularity.

Moreover, Manchester United won the championship of England for the last time in 2013. Yes, then there was a victory in the Europa League-2017, but for a team of Manchester United status, the very fact of participating in only the second European Cup after the Champions League is a problem.

Difficulties with the sale of Manchester United on the terms of the Glazer family may also arise due to the fact that another English superclub, Liverpool, is being sold at the same time. In terms of brand strength, it is definitely not inferior to Manchester, but it is still estimated more modestly – at £ 3.5 billion. It is possible that in such a situation, the Glazer family will have to reduce requirements in order to attract the interest of buyers.

Arnold Kabanov