Izuchukwu OkosiHigh profile bidders for Manchester United are making frantic last-minute efforts to perfect their takeover plans as the Friday deadline for bids looms.
Twitter and Tesla US billionaire owner, Elon Musk, this week became the latest name to ‘throw his hat in the ring’ as the Glazer family who announced plans to sell the club in November 2022 get set to potentially begin the process of handover to the new owners.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is reportedly set to make a bid in excess of £4bn ahead of Friday’s ‘soft’ deadline according to the Manchester Evening News.
According to the Guardian (UK) however, those spearheading the bid will not go beyond £4.5bn despite the Glazers’ asking price of £6bn.
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Musk is said to have an enormous net worth of £157bn and could potentially join forces with an interested individual or group to become the figurehead of the bid.
The British billionaire, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who was the founder and remains the chairperson of global chemicals company INEOS Group, officially declared an interest in buying the club last month.
Ratcliffe has previously met with Avram and Joel Glazer and initially expressed an interest in buying the club last August, having seen a last-gasp bid to buy Chelsea rejected in April. The 70-year-old from Failsworth also owns French club OGC Nice and Swiss side Lausanne-Sport, both through INEOS.
The Daily Mail claim that plans are in place for Qatari investors to make a ‘mega-money’ move for United.
Sources cited in these reports suggest that the group of Qatar-based investors comprises ‘private, high-wealth individuals’ based in the country.
The report also adds that the group is ‘separate’ from Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), who have owned French club Paris Saint-Germain since 2011 and more recently, in October last year, purchased a minority stake in Portuguese side Braga.
While QSI is affiliated with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, it is claimed that the money behind such a move for United would be from an ‘individual fund’ rather than a state-owned one.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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