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Manchester United and their fans in particular were engrossed in 13-month uncertainty over who would become the new partial or full owner of the club. It was between British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim.
The latter ended up withdrawing his bid after a long back and forth with the Glazers rendering Sir Jim the eventual winner.
The sale was overseen by The Raine Group, the same organization that oversaw the sale of Chelsea two years ago to American businessman Todd Boehly.
While speaking to The Times, Raine Group co-founder Joe Ravitch revealed all about Jassim’s bid for United and why it ultimately fell apart.
“We met Jassim, He was in New York. He’s a lovely guy; a very smart guy. The Qataris were very real. They were very smart guys, very thoughtful. I don’t know why they didn’t appreciate the value of the club, but we were not their adviser. We tried as the seller to explain the value to them, and they put what they thought was a series of very serious bids on the table,”
He explained.
According to Joe, their initial valuation of the club was about 5 billion pounds which was spot on with regard to Sir Jim’s bid. He paid 1.3 billion pounds for 25% of the club which translates to around 5.2 billion.
Sheikh Jassim’s bids were not enough, and the Glazers rejected them all. The highest they bid was about 4.5 billion pounds.
“I think the Qataris got to about $5.75 billion. We said to them, ‘You’re within 10 per cent, why don’t you get in a room and try to get to a deal.’ But they said no. I think they were very conscious of criticism if they were seen to be overpaying.
“Ultimately, we think they would have been good owners, but we think the Glazers made the right decision not to take the lesser value and go with Ratcliffe instead.” He concluded
