Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani is reportedly willing to ‘walk away’ from his bid to buy Man Utd if the price of the proposed takeover ‘is not right’.
At the end of last week, it was reported that Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have moved to the next stage of the takeover process.
Despite this, it was claimed on Thursday morning the Glazer family were plotting a ‘massive U-turn’ and they could be ready to take Man Utd off the market as they look to make money from the club’s worldwide fanbase.
The Glazer family are understood to be asking for £6bn to accept a full sale. Sky Sports are reporting that Sheikh Jassim ‘values the club at about £4.5bn’ and he ‘will not overpay’.
The report adds ‘there is a general acceptance that whoever buys United will have to overpay but that does not mean Sheikh Jassim will be reckless’.
Sheikh Jassim has been ‘offered other clubs’ but he has ‘only ever been interested in buying Man Utd’. But it is insisted that he has ‘no interest in a minority investment’.
The report adds: ‘At least three bidders for United have been invited to Manchester over the next fortnight for presentations, meetings and access to detailed financial information about the club.
‘A delegation representing Sheikh Jassim and the other leading bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe are expected at Old Trafford next week.
‘Some of the bidders had been expecting to have been granted exclusivity by this stage. There are concerns Glazers are trying to use minority bidders to drive up the sale price or that they do not want to sell the club.’
Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol adds that the Glazer family should be wary that Man Utd’s value will decrease if they do not sell now.
“For the Glazers, the club effectively belongs to them, they have total control almost of the club and if they do not want to sell they don’t have to.
“But they only ever put £200m of their own money into the club and you are going from turning that into £4.5bn or £5bn – a lot of people would say, ‘take the money now, how much more do you want to put up with fan protests? You would have made an incredible return on your investment’.”
“The other problem is if the Glazers don’t sell now, what is going to happen to Man Utd’s share price? Ever since they came out in November and said they were looking at alternative strategies which could lead to the club being sold, the share price has doubled.
So if they were now to turn…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…