Manchester United could follow FSG plan for Liverpool…

Manchester United could follow FSG plan for Liverpool with Glazer U-turn

Manchester United owners the Glazer family could yet follow the path of Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool in seeking minority investment.

The Old Trafford side have been on the market since November last year, the Glazers putting the club up for sale just days after it emerged that FSG were considering selling all or part of their stake in the Reds.

Since then FSG principal owner John W. Henry has come out to state that a sale of Liverpool is not on the agenda for FSG, telling the ECHO in an exclusive interview earlier that the Reds’ US owners were “more committed than ever” to the club moving forward and that the focus was on securing a minority investment in the club.

Manchester United’s owners have been more forthright in their desire to sell, engaging the Raine Group, the firm that helped facilitate the expedited sale of Chelsea last year, to handle the sale process.

Bids from the chairman of the Qatar Islamic Bank, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, and founder of the INEOS chemical company, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, have already been received but fell short of the valuation placed upon the club by the Glazers, believed to be between £5bn and £6bn. The two bids made, according to Sky Sports, fell around the £4.5bn mark.

A fresh ‘soft’ deadline was put in place for 9pm on Wednesday of this week, but that deadline passed without either Sheikh Jassim or Ratcliffe making a fresh bid, with both handed an extension to consider their next moves, but both expected to return to the table.

But on Thursday morning it emerged that one offer had been made to the Glazers, with former AC Milan owners Elliott Management reportedly making a play for a minority stake in the club.

Elliott had been in the mix from early in the process but that was related to them potentially aiding a bidder with financing for the project as opposed to them taking the step of getting involved directly themselves. That appears to have now changed, as first reported by The Times.

Elliott taking a stake would be one way of the Glazers being able to recapitalise the business at a time when there are significant projects related to infrastructure that need to be addressed, most notably what happens with regards to either the redevelopment of Old Trafford or the potential to move to a brand new stadium.

FSG’s search for a new partner in Liverpool is understood to have moved on to a new phase, with the process having, according to Henry, “identified potential investors.” The idea behind FSG selling a stake in Liverpool was borne from, in part, the need to spend heavily in terms of a squad rebuild this summer, and not wanting to negatively impact cash flow to too great a degree.

The Glazers’ reign at Manchester United has been deeply unpopular ever since their leveraged buyout in 2005, a takeover deal where hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt was used to acquire the club, debt that still remains a millstone around the club’s neck.

But while their desire to sell the club was reported to be ‘serious’, it has also been reported that unless a deal is presented that meets their valuation of the club then they will continue as custodians. A deal for a minority stake with Elliott Management, the New York-based fund run by Paul Singer, would see the Glazers remain in situ.

Elliott Management were in charge at Milan last season when the club won the Scudetto, selling the club in September of last year to RedBird Capital Partners in a £1.1bn deal. RedBird, another New York-based firm, are 11 per cent stakeholders in FSG after they closed on a $750m deal back in March of 2021. Elliott Management still have a small shareholding in Milan following the sale of their majority stake to RedBird last year.

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