Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes improved offer to buy Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has tabled an improved bid to buy Manchester United after securing extra time from brokers to go toe to toe with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani's imminent offer.
As United dismissed another overture from Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus, Ratcliffe's Ineos Group confirmed "we have submitted a revised bid". Both Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim were allowed to break a 9pm Wednesday deadline to finalise offers expected at around £5 billion.
Elliott, the US hedge fund, has also filed new terms to New York brokers, with a minority stake offer rather than outright purchase to woo the Glazers into a deal. The former AC Milan owners initially offered to provide financing to any potential bidders in the first soft deadline for bids last month.
But it is understood that their revised offer, submitted before the original deadline, is for “a small amount of common equity” in addition to an offer to provide financing for any bidders.
Telegraph Sport understands, meanwhile, that a fourth declared approach, from Zilliacus, has been dismissed by the club from the outset. Zilliacus said in a statement that he wants to buy half of the club with the purchasing of the other half by fans.
But Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim remain the frontrunners to seal a record-breaking deal, although the Qatari bid was still yet to be emailed to brokers on Thursday night.
The deadline of 9pm on Wednesday came and went before the two leading candidates to buy the club confirmed they had been granted more time.
Sources close to the Qatari bid said they were still committed to bidding. Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group's full statement said: "Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos can confirm we have submitted a revised bid."
The last-minute delay had increased fears among United fans that the Glazers could yet opt to keep hold of the club. A £5 billion-plus deal would obliterate the current record purchase of a sports team following the sale of the Denver Broncos American football franchise for £3.8 billion last year.
But the Glazers have been looking for as much as £6 billion to sell, and it remains to be seen if any of the forthcoming bids will be sufficient to persuade the Americans to end their controversial 18-year reign.
The Finnish approach appears to go nowhere near the Glazers' expectations, prompting club insiders to quickly say the approach was not credible.
"The current market value of the club is just under $3.9 billion (£3.17 billion). That means that if every one of the fans of the club would join in buying the club, the total sum per fan would amount to less than $6,'" Zilliacus had said.
