After missing out on Chelsea last year, British businessman Martin Broughton knows how potential buyers will be feeling ahead of Friday’s deadline to submit bids for Manchester United.
The late nights spent crunching the numbers. Checking and double-checking that financial backers will make good on their promises.
Then that final bid e-mailed to the New York office of merchant bank Raine Group for approval.
“Just before you put in the formal bid you go through all of the debate,” Broughton, who has no intention of making a bid for United, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “How much leeway do we leave ourselves? We need to be on the short list. At the same time, we don’t want to be overpaying.”
Saudi Arabia has submitted a bid for Manchester United, the Telegraph reported on Thursday.
Multiple private groups in Riyadh have made formal inquiries, the report added.
British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, a life-long supporter of the club and founder of chemicals firm INEOS, is a likely bidder, along with U.S. private equity firms, sources told Reuters.
Qatari Royals are readying an opening bid of roughly £5-billion ($8-billion) for the club, according to a report by Bloomberg News on Thursday citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The Bloomberg report said a consortium including Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the country’s former prime minister and ex-head of the Qatar Investment Authority, is putting the final touches on a proposal to acquire the club.
The Office of the Qatari Royal and Manchester United did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the Bloomberg report.
A deal for the record 13-times English Premier League winners will likely exceed the biggest sports deal so far, the US$5.2-billion – including debt and investments – paid for Chelsea, the sources added.
Manchester United is the fourth richest soccer club in the world, according to analysis by Deloitte.
A small portion of Manchester United shares is listed in the United States with a market capitalization of more than US$4-billion, as of Wednesday’s close.
Friday has been described as a soft deadline for initial offers before the process of determining the next owner of United gathers pace.
Broughton, a 75-year-old businessman who is the former chairman of British Airways and English soccer club Liverpool, went through all of that last year when heading a consortium that tried to buy Chelsea, with Raine also handling that sale. He made it to the final three, but eventually lost to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, who paid US$3-billion for the London club – a record for a soccer team.
United is estimated to command as much as double that figure after the American-owning Glazer family announced their willingness to sell last November.
Ratcliffe is the only confirmed bidder. But he is expected to face a challenge from Qatar, while other interested parties could become clearer after Friday.
“I don’t know how many bids there were for Chelsea, but there were at least half a dozen serious bids and that leaves four or five frustrated people,” Broughton said.
One of those was Ratcliffe, who, despite matching the bid of Boehly and Clearlake, missed the deadline set by Raine and wasn’t considered. He hasn’t repeated that mistake with United, declaring last month his intention to move for the club he has supported since childhood.
“Jim wants it. He’s prepared to pay properly for it. My surmise would be he’s willing to come up with a big number,” Broughton said. “Personally, I would guess he’d be at the £4-billion to £5-billion level.”