British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe is restructuring his offer to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family, according to US outlet Bloomberg.
Earlier this year, Ratcliffe put forward a proposal to buy 69 per cent of the shares owned by the Glazer family, but the decision was met by disapproval from the remaining shareholders.
Minority shareholders such as Lindsell Train, Ariel Investments LLC and Eminence Capital believed there would be little to no benefit for them if Ratcliffe were to complete a takeover.
A top-three shareholder is believed to have sent a letter to the United board warning that independent directors ‘could be at risk of being sued for recommending a bid that favours’ one section of the shareholders over another.
It is now reported by Bloomberg that Ratcliffe is working with his advisers to ‘address concerns about the terms of his bid from minority investors’ of the Premier League club. As of now, both Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim remain in the takeover race.
Ratcliffe’s previous bid opened the door for Avram and Joel Glazer to stay invested in the club in some capacity. In comparison, Sheikh Jassim has proposed to buy the entire club through his takeover. Neither are close to taking control of United.
The Glazer family have not ruled out the potential sale of the Red Devils, but they are also open to minority investment. It has been 10 months since the club started exploring strategic alternatives and the takeover saga looks set to continue.
Glazers remain undecided over Man Utd’s future
There has been good investment into the squad over recent summer transfer windows, but all of those funds have come from the club’s revenue rather than from the Glazers.
The owners have shown no intention to offset the club’s losses with personal funds. As a result, the Red Devils have fallen behind their rivals due to the Financial Fair Play situation.
The fans are eager to see the Glazers end their 18-year association with the club but as things stand, the process could take longer with no decision made in the takeover process.
The Glazers set an asking price of around £6 billion earlier this year and neither Ratcliffe nor Sheikh Jassim have met the fee. That remains another roadblock towards a future sale.
Ratcliffe is currently trying to sort concerns with minority shareholders, but the club’s faithful would ideally want a complete takeover which Sheikh Jassim has proposed.
