The Glazer family have been warned that the sale of Manchester United won’t proceed unless they release a statement confirming they are serious about relinquishing full control of the club.
United’s owners announced in November that they were “commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives”. The Glazers hired Raine Group – the US investment bank which helped Todd Boehly’s consortium buy Chelsea last year – to oversee the process of finding interested parties.
The ‘soft deadline’ for parties to make their interest known passed on Friday, with INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the chairman of one of Qatar ’s biggest banks, coming forward. While there has been other reported interest, Ratcliffe and Al Thani remain the only two official bids.
