Pressure is growing on Manchester United’s owners to decide whether they are serious about selling the club after rival bidders Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani both tabled second offers for the 13-time Premier League champions.
Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim still haven’t met the Glazer family’s £6billion valuation - and are understood to both be more than £1billion short of the asking price being demanded.
But it can be revealed that the two billionaires will now seek guarantees that the Americans actually want to relinquish control at Old Trafford before deciding on how to proceed.
At least two of the six Glazer siblings are understood to prefer an option which would see an outside investor buy a stake in the club to help finance huge capital projects like the redevelopment of the Old Trafford stadium and Carrington training ground.
There are fears that the interest of Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim is being used to flush out potential partners. A source with knowledge of the bidding process said: “There is a lot of confusion.
“It is not clear whether the Glazers are ready to sell or are simply using the process to get a valuation of the club on the open market to attract outside investment.”
Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim both failed to post their second offers before last Wednesday's cut-off after discovering it was a soft deadline.
Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus also entered the bidding on Thursday - although his interest came with a warning that he wouldn’t pay an excessive asking price. Zilliacus, who has offered United fans the chance to buy shares as part of his charm offensive, has estimated the club’s market value to be around £3.2 billion.
Malcolm Glazer bought United in a controversial £790million leveraged buy-out in 2005. He borrowed £275million against the club’s assets to finance the deal.
When Glazer died in 2014, he left United to his daughter and five sons. It is estimated the Glazers have stripped around £1.5billion from the club’s finances in dividends, management fees and debt repayments.
The family announced in November that they were exploding strategic investment options. Merchant bank Raine was brought in to oversee the process - but it seems they have been unable to get a definitive answer on whether a full sale will go through.
Elliott Management, the American investment company that owns Italian giants Inter Milan, have stated their interest in taking a minority stake in United as well as offering finance to any other bidders.
