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Five bidders for United

At least five serious bidders are preparing to do battle in the bid to buy Manchester United, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe stepping up his interest by involving major investment banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

While a fund linked to the Qatari royal family remains undecided on whether to table an offer before the deadline on February 17, Ratcliffe, the petrochemicals billionaire, has sought backing from the banks for his bid.

Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest individuals, remains the only potential buyer to have so far gone public on his desire to buy the Premier League giants but the cost, with the Glazers expecting more than £5 billion, would take a huge chunk of his fortune. He is understood to have sought potential partners.

Sources close to the process believe there is sufficient interest to secure a price acceptable to the Glazer family, which would be north of £5 billion. Raine, the New York bank that is managing the potential sale for the Old Trafford owners, believes a claimed global following of more than a billion people actually takes the asking price to somewhere between £6 billion and £8 billion.

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