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Will United ever be sold?

The Glazers put Manchester United on the market in November because they were led to believe the news would spark a competitive auction between private-equity giants, sovereign wealth funds and assorted trophy asset hunters. The pitch was that at least one of these bidders would decide they simply must have Manchester United or they would never be able to show their faces in Davos again. This would trigger a bid of more than $8billion (£6.1bn).

Instead, they got a two-horse race between bidders more worried about not being able to show their faces in Davos again if they spent much more than $6billion (£4.6billion) on a company that had a market capitalisation of less than half that figure the day before the auction was announced. Fear of looking daft has trumped fear of missing out.

It can be reasonably sure that both bidders have settled on a number close to $6.5billion (£5bn).

The Qatari bid says it will clear the debts immediately without taking on further borrowing. The INEOS bid has not made that commitment and its history in business suggests it will borrow more money to buy the club and refinance the debt via corporate bonds. This borrowing will most likely sit on the parent company’s books, not the club’s, with INEOS paying the interest.

In truth, this does not make much difference to the Glazers, as both approaches add up to almost the same amount of money for their shares.

However, INEOS is only proposing to buy the Glazers’ shares — or even just enough of them to take control — while Sheikh Jassim wants all of the shares, including the 31 per cent that is owned by investors who bought into United since they were partially floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012.

This makes a huge difference, as Sheikh Jassim could be shelling out almost twice as much as INEOS is initially proposing.

We are one year closer to a new format for the Champions League in the 2024-25 season, when the Premier League should get an extra place in the competition and participating clubs more games and more money. And at the end of that season, FIFA’s’s new and improved Club World Cup will take place for the first time in the United States, with 12 slots for European teams.

That might be worth sticking around for, and who knows? Apple or one of the other tech giants might be ready to really blow things up with a mega offer for the Premier League’s media rights.

Will United be sold and to whom?   I don’t know or nor does anyone really.

 

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