On Sunday, Manchester United disclosed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a British petrochemical billionaire, has acquired a 25% stake in the renowned English Premier League soccer club.
This transaction received official confirmation from both Manchester United and INEOS, the London-based multinational conglomerate controlled by Ratcliffe.
INEOS, in a statement, outlined that Ratcliffe would be obtaining a 25% share of the club’s Class B shares and potentially up to 25% of its publicly available Class A shares.
Additionally, he pledged an extra $300 million earmarked for future investments in Old Trafford, the club’s historic stadium. The sale involves the Glazer family, the majority owners, and Class A shareholders receiving $33.00 per share, the same price as the club’s closing stock value of $19.81 on Friday.
As of May, Forbes appraised the value of Manchester United at $6 billion, positioning it just behind Real Madrid as the world’s second most valuable soccer club. It’s noteworthy that shares of Manchester United experienced a nearly 13% decline in 2023.
The deal still requires approval from the English Premier League.
“We are delighted to have agreed (to) this deal with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS,” said Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer, Manchester United’s executive co-chairmen and directors, in a statement. “As part of the strategic review we announced in November 2022, we committed to look at a variety of alternatives to help enhance Manchester United, with a focus on delivering success for our men’s, women’s and Academy teams.”
That statement added that “the joint ambition is to create a world-class football operation building on the Club’s many existing strengths, including the successful off-pitch performance that it continues to enjoy.”
The sale comes after over a year of rumors that the Florida-based Glazer family, which has owned the club since 2005 and also owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was interested in accepting offers. There have been multiple rounds of bids, which had included Qatari investor Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who withdrew his bid in October, according to multiple reports.
Manchester United has struggled in recent years under the Glazer family’s ownership. The club, which have had four full-time managers since long-time boss Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013, have not won a UEFA Champions League title since 2008, and have not captured a Premier League title since 2013.
Manchester United are currently eighth in the Premier League table.
Ratcliffe, 71, was born in Failsworth, Lancashire, which is part of Greater Manchester. He has described himself as “a local boy and a lifelong supporter” of Manchester United. Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest men with a net worth of $19.1 billion, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index, previously launched a failed bid for London club Chelsea, which fetched $5.3 billion in May 2022.
Ratcliffe also owns soccer clubs OGC Nice in France and FC Lausanne-Sport in Switzerland.
