Sources: Critical Man United takeover update as due diligence news emerges – ‘From what I hear…’
It is now “logistically impossible” that a Man United takeover will be finalised by the original end-of-March deadline, sources have told Football Insider.
Takeover middlemen Raine Group, an investment bank firm based in New York, initially briefed interested parties that they wanted a deal done in the first quarter of 2023.
That is now unworkable as the two frontrunners for a full takeover – Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos company and a Qatari group led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani – are yet to begin the decisive stages of their due diligence.
Central to that research will be the potential cost of sweeping upgrades to both Old Trafford and the Carrington training complex, which supporters have long demanded.
Experts say that a full rebuild of the club’s home ground could set a new owner back between £1.5billion and £3bn – and that cost will be factored into their respective valuations.
Additionally, neither party has been given full access to United’s data room, which houses the club’s most confidential financial information and the deepest statistical picture when it comes to its assets and liabilities.
These factors, according to a source who has been consulted on the takeover by one of the bidders, mean that there is no chance that a deal will be finalised before April.
The process will, however, begin to pick up pace after Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim’s groups meet with United representatives later this week.
“In terms of the logistics, it’s impossible that they make that deadline,” the source told Football Insider.
“There’s just too much to do, with the stadium, the business. To squeeze it all in when they have such a narrow window would be reckless. They won’t do that. From what I hear, we’re talking months not weeks here.“
Football Insider has been unable to verify reports that Joel and Avram Glazer could use external funds to buy out the four remaining Glazers siblings to remain in situ at Old Trafford.
American investment firm Elliott Management is known to be among the groups looking to provide funding for a third party to complete a takeover.
Minority United shareholder Andrew Brown, executive director of specialist investment company East 72, has told this site that he expects a deal to go through before the end of the season.
East also claimed that there has “never been a better moment to sell” and that his former employers Rothschild & Co, who are working as advisors to the Glazers, are likely to echo his view.
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