Glazers sitting on £9.2bn stash, Ineos trigger for full Man United takeover now clear

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When the Glazer family put Manchester United up for sale in November 2022, supporters thought it was the beginning of the end for the debt-riddled regime. As it transpired, it wasn’t even the end of the beginning.

After an auction process that starred Qatari sovereign wealth, every private equity firm under the sun, and a few bluffers and hangers on, Sir Jim Ratcliffe was anointed by the Glazers as their chosen buyer.

But instead of the full takeover that Man United fans pined for, it was a minority deal for around 28 per cent of the club’s equity.

Despite spending around £1.2bn of his own personal fortune, Ratcliffe is still a minority shareholder. But the Glazers have absolved all responsibility for day-to-day operations – or, at least, that is the party line.

Upon assuming control, the Ineos billionaire – who was born barely five miles from Old Trafford – was full of misty-eyed oratory about putting United back on their perch and restoring pride in a hollowed-out institution.

But just over a year into his reign, there is a distinctly Glazer-ish whiff about Ratcliffe’s record in M16, which has been characterised by austerity, regression on the pitch, and a fixation on increasing revenue whatever the human cost.

Each week seems to bring a new round of lay-offs and so-called ‘hard truths’. This week, in contrast to the sweeping job cuts of recent months, the purge has been more targeted.

On Thursday, Annie Hale, James Holroyd, and Florence Lafaye – United’s people and transformation director, chief commercial development officer, and commercial director respectively – were told they would leave the club this summer.

Incidentally, Hale herself was the executive tasked with implementing the latest 200-strong round of redundancies. It’s redundancies squared at Old Trafford at present.

The ultimate blame lies at the Glazers’ door, of course. After years of neglect, it was inevitable that any new ownership regime would need to be ruthless.

But Ratcliffe’s measures have been extreme, bordering on gratuitous. And, as football finance expert Kieran Maguire recently told UIF, it may be that running a football club requires a different approach to running a chemicals plant.

The Glazers, desperate to return to a position where they can cash in from regular dividends, have found a patsy for their rampaging cost optimisation.

Meanwhile, the family are sitting on an eye-watering nest egg worth about a third of the city of Manchester’s entire GDP.

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Glazers empire valued at £9.2bn, Man United top of the pile

The Glazers’ sale to Ratcliffe valued United around £5bn.

Why a partial rather than a full sale? Well, because the family think there is more upside to be achieved before they finally reach ‘exit value’.

The market seems to agree. This week, Sportico published their annual list of the world’s most 100 most valuable sports franchises.

United, according to the results, are the world’s most valuable football club despite their perpetual travails on the pitch.

Sportico appraise them at £4.9bn, making them the 17th most valuable franchise in world sport.

They are 10 places above the Glazers’ other outpost in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFL side who are said to be worth £4.3bn, making their empire across both sides of the Atlantic £9.1bn in total.

Here’s the data in a structured table format:

There are only six football clubs in the top 100, speaking to the supremacy of the NFL, NBA, MLB and other closed-shop leagues where profitability is guaranteed and expenditure capped.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘would like to increase’ his United stake

The Sportico figures hammer home the fact that, if Ratcliffe is to increase his stake – either incrementally or in one fell swoop – he will need huge liquidity to do so.

A new report from Bloomberg on the business performance of Ineos and its impact on United suggests that is in the 72-year-old’s plans.

‘Ratcliffe still would like to increase his stake if that option came available, a person familiar with the situation said,’ the article reads.

According to the piece, authored by the well-connected David Hellier, the Glazers have the option to sell the club, forcing Ratcliffe to sell his shares at the same price.

Ratcliffe would, however, have first-refusal to make his own bid, meaning he will be able to take full control if he is willing to match any offer from a third party.

That makes the mechanics of a would-be takeover clear, though the option does not equal an obligation.

In any case, Ineos appear to be experiencing liquidity issues. The construction of a new chemicals plant in Antwerp is expected to ease anxieties around cash flows, but the construction process – which is due to be completed in 2026 – has been beset by legal challenges.

Independent of their owners, United’s debt and cash flow issues are well documented. £548m worth of loans are due for repayment in 2027. The Red Devils will almost certainly refinance, with interest payments likely to double thereafter.

Ineos too have a high debt-to-equity ratio and their credit rating has recently taken a hit, which could make accessing finance more difficult.

That probably means that a full takeover of United in 2025 is unworkable, and equity funding for United is also expected to be limited in the meantime.

Long-term, however, it appears that option is still credible.

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Irony as Man United host sporting director conference at Old Trafford

While the misguided decision to hand Erik ten Hag a new deal last summer only to oust him at great expense six months later may have generated more column inches, Dan Ashworth’s exit is arguably a more damning indictment of Ineos’ grand vision for the club.

United spent several million pounds and countless man hours prising the from his Newcastle contract, with a view to having him steer the ship in the sporting department for years to come.

But his tenure was short-lived, reportedly due to tensions with other members of senior management.

It is ironic, therefore, that Old Trafford is set to be the venue for a premier conference centred on the sporting director market.

The Association of Sporting Directors, a non-profit aimed at supporting and connecting executives in the field, will stage their annual summit at Old Trafford in May.

United are said to have ditched the sporting director role altogether in their new-look football setup, with Ashworth’s responsibilities now split between CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox.

Ashworth himself meanwhile is reportedly being lined up for the role vacated by Tim Steidten at West Ham, where he could be reunited with Graham Potter, with whom he work so successfully at Brighton.