Weeks after the conclusion of World Cup tournament, speculation is growing that a group of investors from host country Qatar may buy one of the most successful soccer teams on earth.
Qatari investors are seeking to buy soccer team Manchester United, according to recent reports. The bid, which may be made as early as this week, would be valued at several billion dollars and make Manchester United one of the highest valued teams in the sport.
The investors are linked to the Qatar royal family, which has a reported net worth of around $335 billion. It's not clear who exactly the individual investors are but officials associated with the Qatar Investment Authority are reportedly assisting with the bid.
A Sale Could Be Massive...But Not Easy
United is in the English Premier League (EPL) and is currently owned by the American Glazer family, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team.
The Glazers announced in November that they could put United up for sale following mounting pressure. They bought the team in 2005 via a leveraged buyout for around 790 million pounds with the assistance of JP Morgan (JPM).
JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs (GS) are reportedly working together to cover the remainder of United's estimated $660 million debt to help make the sale happen if English businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe decides to make a bid for the team. Ratcliffe has made his interest in the team known in the past, along with investors in Saudi Arabia and the USA, according to Reuters. However it appears the Qatari investors may be making the most progress in the bidding process.
Manchester United has the most wins in Premier League history with 717. It has been home to Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney. It's valued as the 19th richest team in the world at $4.5 billion dollars, between the NFL's Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins.
Soccer Isn't Foreign to Qatar
Many might recall the 2022 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Qatar. And Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) owns Paris Saint Germain soccer club (home to Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe).
But the investors looking to buy Manchester United are separate from and unrelated to the group that owns PSG and its management.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the ruler of Qatar, is reportedly a Manchester United fan. The Qatari investors were purportedly contacted in late 2022 to gauge whether they might be interested in buying the team.
