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Manchester United’s majority shareholders, the Glazer family, find themselves caught in a cheat 22 situation as they deliberate on whether to sell their majority stake in the club.
Having reached the end of their lines of credit, the family hired consultancy Raine Group to invite bids for the sale of all or part of the club.
The family is said to want between $5.5 and $6 billion for the United sale outright. This figure is reported to be well above its book value.
However, the news of his intention to sell and the success of the team in the field led by Erik ten Hag caused the share price to skyrocket, increasing the real value of the company.
Rumors have been circulating that secretly at least two of the Glazer brothers, Joel and Avram, have never intended to sell and have used the bidding process as a fishing expedition to attract investors to buy out their brothers and maintain majority stake in the club.
This option seemed to take a big step forward this week when Elliott Investment Management threw its hat into the ring, offering to finance someone else’s investment in the club, including the Glazers themselves.
Unfortunately for the Glazers though, reports that they might have a way to stay in control have sent the stock price plummeting again.
According to The Mirror, “When the offers for the club came in, United’s share price hit a 52-week high of $27.03. When the markets opened on Tuesday, the price stood at $24.94, but fell to close the day at $23.13, the lowest in nearly two weeks.”
Thus, American tycoons are caught in a split stick.
Only two direct sales offers are known to have been submitted, one from a Qatari investor, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jaber Al Thani, and the other from petrochemical giant INEOS, headed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Sheikh Jassim’s offer is said to be $4.5 billion and Ratcliffe’s $4 billion.
If the Glazers are making noise about staying in control to push the price up, it is having the opposite effect as the market loses confidence the moment it thinks they will stay in control.
And if the family does not bluff, as soon as they make their decision to stay public, they know that millions of the value of the club will be erased.
For United fans desperate to rid themselves of the club at all costs from owners they see as parasites, the market reaction to the prospect of them staying is most welcome and puts enormous pressure on the family to finally milk their source of income. one last time and get the hell out of Dodge City.
