Elliott Management has made it through to the next stage of bidding for Manchester United together with Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe; Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol: "It is by no means certain that [the Glazers] will decide to sell."
Friday 10 March 2023 19:46, UK
Elliott Management has made it through to the second stage of the Manchester United bidding process but the Glazer family remain undecided on selling the club.
Rather than seeking to buy Manchester United outright, US hedge fund Elliott Management's proposal is to offer financing to any interested parties - and the Glazers themselves.
The Glazers have received bids worth between £4bn and £4.5bn from Qatar's Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe but they are holding out for their £6bn valuation.
Those two bidders have also made it through to the next stage, while representatives from Elliott were in attendance at Old Trafford for the Europa League win over Real Betis on Thursday night.
Delegations representing Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe will be in Manchester next week for meetings with the Glazers and presentations regarding their offers.
Elliott has history in football having helped finance the €740m takeover of AC Milan by Li Yonghong in 2017.
Elliott took control of the club a year later when the Chinese businessman failed to make repayments on his €300m high-interest loan, before selling AC Milan to investment firm Redbird in a $1.2bn deal last summer.
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol offers more insight into Elliott Management's offer and its possible implications on the proposed sale of the club...
"The Qataris and Sir Jim Ratcliffe want to buy Manchester United. Elliott Management don't want to buy Manchester United.
"They are a hedge fund and what they have proposed is financing for any of the parties who are interested in buying Manchester United, or the Glazer family themselves, who own Manchester United.
"That is the difference and it is significant that they have made it through to the second stage of the process because it basically lets us know that the Glazer family are still looking at all options.
"They haven't totally made up their minds whether they want to sell Manchester United or keep it and maybe borrow some money to fund the work that needs to be done on the stadium and the training ground."
"I know a lot of Manchester United supporters want the Glazers to leave. There have been demonstrations and banners at games for a long time.
"There were even banners at the game last night against Real Betis. Significantly, representatives of Elliott Management were at that game, at Old Trafford.
"Next week, a delegation representing the Qataris will be in Manchester for meetings and presentations, also a delegation representing Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
"Everyone is now trying to work out what the Glazers are going to do. Will they sell the club to the Qataris or Sir Jim Ratcliffe?
"Or will they stay and use the funding that is being proposed to them to borrow money, maybe sell a minority stake in Manchester United and use that money to redevelop the club.
"I know that would be bad news for a lot of Manchester United fans because they want the Glazers to go, they're hoping that either the Qataris or Sir Jim Ratcliffe buy the club.
"But Manchester United belongs to the Glazers so they can decide what happens next and it is by no means certain that they will decide to sell - even though there are offers on the table that value the club at £4.5bn.
"A lot of people think that is an incredible amount of money to pay for a club that has lost money for the last three seasons.
"I saw a report from Bloomberg this morning that quotes one model of valuing football clubs that says Manchester United are actually only worth £850m at the moment, whereas there are offers on the table of more than 4bn."
