The Glazer family have reportedly performed a U-turn and no longer want to retain a stake in Manchester United, leaving Sheikh Jassim as the hot favourite over Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Throughout the process it’s been reported that Joel and Avram Glazer have wanted to remain at United in some capacity.
It was for that reason that Ratcliffe’s bid, which would allow the Glazers to retain shares in the club before selling them later, was for a while deemed the preferred option.
But according to the Financial Times, they are now willing to relinquish their entire stake in the club, which suggests they’re leaning towards Sheikh Jassim.
The Qataris’ debt-free offer for the whole club, thought to be around £5.5bn, is now likely favoured by the American owners.
And French newspaper Nice-Matin claim news of their preference has reached Ratcliffe, who is ‘losing confidence’ in his chances of securing the sale.
People have become obsessed with which of the two will be named the ‘preferred bidder’, but as Ben Jacobs explains, there is currently “no real need to” place any potential investor in a “period of exclusivity”.
“Those running the process are working around the clock now with both groups to try and get both offers in shape, which is highly atypical,” Jacobs said.
“This is also why the fixation with a preferred bidder is largely unhelpful, because if we were earlier in the process, you would have a preferred bidder, and then that preferred bidder would enter into a period of exclusivity and they would undertake due diligence and any potential final negotiation and it would be significant because the Glazers would have shown their hands.
“The longer the process has gone on, the less need in many ways there is to crown anyone a preferred bidder. Instead, the Raine Group and the Glazers can simply pick a winner. Until they pick a winner, there’s no real need to place either of the groups or any minority investor in a period of exclusivity because every offer on the table is executional.
“If the Glazers don’t – until they pick a winner – provide a period of exclusivity, then they can obviously have maximum competitive tension.
“Then, if or when a winner is named, we then wait and see whether there is a short period of exclusivity to effectively go through the process of acquisition, but that would still be different to a preferred bidder in a period of exclusivity.”
