The Manchester United takeover process is ongoing, with conflicting reports over the battle between Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Reuters reported that Sheikh Jassim is negotiating exclusivity and his offer ‘is currently viewed by the Glazers more favorably’ than Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The Spectator also backed these claims up, however, The Times reports the race is even, and the protracted battle could drag on into August.
Former United star Rio Ferdinand had yesterday claimed he had heard Sheikh Jassim’s bid approval was ‘imminent’, prior to the Reuters report.
READ: Sheikh Jassim takeover bid: Everything on offer
Manchester United takeover latest
The Manchester United takeover latest was discussed on the BBC How To Buy A Football Club podcast, which has been tracking the process.
BBC economics expert Faisal Islam spoke on the podcast to give his assessment of yesterday’s Reuters reports and the surging share price.
He said: “There is a consensus the Qataris are in pole position, that’s a substantial change to where we’ve been for many months.
“In football terms, we’re approaching the 89th minute now. and Qatar are 3-2 up.”
He went on to explain his doubts that Sir Jim Ratcliffe would table a new offer to counter Shiekh Jassim’s – although did not completely rule it out.
He said: “The Glazers have smoked out a Qatari bid at the level the price they wanted. That’s happened.
“The question for me is, what do we know about the Ineos and Sir Jim Ratclifee bid – they weren’t willing to bid 100 per cent, weren’t going toe to toe in matching the 100 per cent bid.
“So how much more money do they have in their back pocket?
“And to the extent that they had a budget for this, other things going on in my neck of the woods with the economy and interest rates going up now, pretty sharply, means any recourse to borrowing is now tangibly more difficult than it was at the beginning of this process.
“So that is why I think it would take quite something for Ineos and Ratcliffe, they really really have to want it and pay substantially more than they thought they had settled on. So let’s watch this space.”
He did go onto describe the way the Glazers have run this bidding as abnormal for the usual business world, labelling it as ‘crazy’.
He added: “This is not in any way normal. We are beyond the point of fair value for United. This is about what Manchester United is worth to two sets of buyers.”
Separately, it emerged yesterday that Sheikh Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation has been registered as a UK approved company. Along with the main bidder, a separate director was named as Abdulrahman Abdulla Al-Ansari.
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