On Sunday, Manchester United revealed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a British petrochemical tycoon, had acquired a 25% share in the storied English Premier League soccer team.
Manchester United and the international business INEOS, which Ratcliffe owned and is based in London, confirmed the deal.
Ratcliffe will purchase up to 25% of the club’s publicly traded Class A shares and 25% of its Class B shares, according to a statement from INEOS. Ratcliffe would also “provide an additional $300 million intended to enable future investment into Old Trafford,” the club’s iconic stadium. The primary owner of the club, the Glazer family, and Class A stockholders will get the same price per share, $33.00, according to the club. Manchester United’s (MANU) stock closed at $19.81 on Friday.
With a valuation of $6 billion in May, Forbes ranked Manchester United as the second most valuable soccer team in the world, after Real Madrid. In 2023, Manchester United’s stock had dropped by almost 13%.
The English Premier League must yet approve the agreement.
The executive co-chairmen and directors of Manchester United, Joel and Avram Glazer, released a statement saying, “We are delighted to have agreed (to) this deal with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS.” “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 as part of the strategic review we announced in November 2022.”
“The shared goal is to establish a world-class football operation building on the Club’s numerous current strengths, including the successful off-pitch performance that it continues to enjoy,” the statement continued.
The sale occurs following more than a year of speculation that the Florida-based Glazer family, who also owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has owned the team since 2005, was open to offers. There have reportedly been several rounds of bids, with one of them coming from Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who withdrew his bid in October.
The Glazer family has struggled to maintain control over Manchester United in recent years. The team, which has had four full-time managers since longtime manager Sir Alex Ferguson resigned in 2013, hasn’t won a Premier League championship since 2013 or a UEFA Champions League championship since 2008.
In the Premier League standings, Manchester United is presently ranked seventh.
The 71-year-old Ratcliffe was born in the Greater Manchester region of Failsworth, Lancashire. “A local boy and a lifelong supporter” of Manchester United, that is how he has defined himself. According to Bloomberg’s billionaire index, Ratcliffe is among the richest individuals in Britain with a net worth of $19.1 billion. He previously made an unsuccessful bid for London club Chelsea, which sold for $5.3 billion in May 2022.
Additionally, Ratcliffe owns the soccer teams FC Lausanne-Sport in Switzerland and OGC Nice in France.