MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A Qatar-based bid for Manchester United was confirmed Friday, with Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani promising to rid the iconic soccer team of debt and return it to former glories.
Sheikh Jassim is the chairman of QIB, which is one of Qatar's leading banks, and has submitted a 100% offer to buy out current owners the Glazer family.
“The bid will be completely debt free via Sheikh Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation, which will look to invest in the football teams, the training center, the stadium and wider infrastructure, the fan experience and the communities the club supports,” a statement said.
“The vision of the bid is for Manchester United Football Club to be renowned for footballing excellence, and regarded as the greatest football club in the world.”
It did not mention what the bid would be.
Friday is the final day for serious contenders to step forward in the race to buy United.
After months of speculation and soaring share prices, initial offers need to be presented to merchant bank Raine Group, which is handling the sale of one of the most famous soccer teams in the world.
By the end of the day, the Glazers will have an idea of how much they can expect to make on the club they bought for about $1.4 billion in 2005.
The price is now estimated to reach as high as $6 billion, with reported interest from Saudi Arabia seeing its value rise sharply as the deadline for bids approaches.
While Friday is described as a soft deadline, Raine and the Glazers will have a clearer picture of potential buyers before moving on to the next stage of the process. The announcement from Sheikh Jassim comes after growing speculation about interest from the gas and oil rich Qatar.
Previously only British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had publicly confirmed his intention to bid for the club he has supported from childhood.
Along with Qatar and reported interest from Saudi Arabia, rumors persist that Elon Musk could be among a list of potential buyers from the United States.
Ratcliffe, the owner of petrochemicals giant INEOS, announced his intention to bid last month. That is a shift in strategy from last year when he launched a last-minute bid for Chelsea, but was not considered because he missed the deadline set by Raine, which also handled that sale.
Ratcliffe, who currently owns French club Nice, said last year that he had no interest in another bid for a Premier League club after missing out on Chelsea and receiving little encouragement from the Glazers for United. But he would be a popular choice among fans because of his longstanding support of the club.
Several Americans bid last year to buy Chelsea, with Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital eventually paying $3 billion for the London club. Rival bids came from Chicago Cubs owner the Ricketts family, Boston Celtics part-owner Steve Pagliuca and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
No American bids for United have been made public, unless you consider a Twitter post from Musk.
The CEO of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX wrote “I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome” last August. And although he then pointed out it was a “long-running joke on Twitter,” rumors of a bid have not gone away.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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