Have the Manchester United Red Devils found a buyer? A consortium led by Sheikh Jassem Ben Hamad Al Thani, president of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), announced on Friday February 17 that it had submitted an offer to get hold of the English football club.
“Sheikh Jassem Bin Hamad Al Thani confirms having submitted an offer for [le rachat à] 100% Manchester United Football Club », explains the press release, which does not give any details on the amount proposed for the Red Devils. According to the press, the club put up for sale at the end of November by its American owners, the Galzer family, could become the biggest sale of a sports club in the world, for nearly 6 billion euros.
The petrochemical group Ineos also interested
“The offer aims to restore the club to its former glory both of course and off the pitch and – above all – it aims to put fans back at the heart of Manchester United Football Club”, the statement said. If the offer goes through, the club will be released from its debts, which currently stand at 580 million euros, and its promoters undertake to “invest in the football teams, training centre, stadium and wider infrastructure”he explains again.
QIB is one of the largest banks in Qatar. Its majority shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, owner of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which controls Paris Saint-Germain.
The son of a former Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Jassem Bin Hamad Al Thani, 42, is portrayed as a Manchester United supporter since childhood. There are, however, expected to be other offers for the club, as the Glazers were hoping for firm offers for this Friday and would like to complete the sale by the end of April. British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and his petrochemical group Ineos, which already own clubs in Nice, France, and Lausanne, Switzerland, were the only ones to make their interest known publicly.