New Man Utd bidder makes approach allowing Glazers to STAY, following ‘all or nothing’ offer from Qatar
THE bidders hoping to take over Manchester United are expected to hear on Wednesday if they are allowed access to the Old Trafford club’s books.
But growing fears that the Glazer family will not sell have increased after the latest valuation of United by financial experts – and an offer by a new investment consortium to help them STAY in charge.
Luxembourg-based hedge fund Genevra Associates say they want to take a “minority stake” alongside the “current majority owners” – the Glazers.
But they also say they aim to open up 50 per cent of the ownership of the club to fans.
In comments likely to alienate the Glazers from the off, Genevra’s Shah Farsi said: “We understand that United fans have been rightfully frustrated over the last several years.
“Our aim is to act as the force of reformation that harmonises the interests of the owners and the fans and push for some much-needed transformation at the club.
“We have received a number of solid commitments over the recent weeks and we hope to transform that into a unique win-win opportunity for all those involved.”
The move comes as the Glazers’ appointed bankers, the New York-based Raine Group, are understood to be ready to confirm which bid teams will be allowed to go through to the second stage of the process.
That would allow the two declared suitors, Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, to properly scrutinise the club’s accounts and submit a second offer.
Raine are not naming any of the bidders which leaves the scope for additional potential buyers to emerge, including Genevra.
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With no fewer than FOUR US hedge funds and financiers willing to stump up the money to help new bidders get into the contest, the fight for United could be about to intensify.
Elliott Management, which previously owned AC Milan, was the first hedge fund to out itself as potential deal enablers 10 days ago.
Now Elliott have been joined by three other financial institutions, Oaktree, Ares and MSD Partners, in the funding race.
Oaktree, which has assets in excess of £100bn, lent China’s Suning corporation £226m towards its purchase of Inter Milan and has an 80 per cent stake in French Ligue 2 side Caen.
All four are understood to be prepared to help potential bidders raise the capital required to entice the Glazers into a sale.
But the Glazers’ £6bn asking price has been put into starker context by the latest valuation of the club by the Financial Times’ “Lex” column.
Using a calculation known as “discounted cash flow analysis”, United was valued at just £1.32bn, less than a quarter of the £6bn the Glazers want.
That valuation, though, does seem on the low side with United shares, trading on the New York Stock Exchange, giving a figure of £2.8bn, while evaluating the club based on revenues – and using the model set when Raine sold Chelsea to Todd Boehly last summer – gives a total of £3.55bn.
Those numbers may prompt the declared bidders to “go low”, with Ratcliffe’s Ineos petro-chemicals giant targeting just the Glazers’ 69 per cent stake rather than a complete takeover while Sheikh Jassim wants full ownership.
But bids that do not get close to the Glazers’ target value could still see the family pull up the drawbridge and wait for market conditions to change in the future – much to the frustration of the many United fans who are desperate for them to quit the club.