EXCLUSIVE: Second bids for Manchester United must be placed by the middle of NEXT WEEK with final offers due around Easter as the Premier League giants sit down with Sir Jim Ratcliffe today after lengthy talks with Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani’s delegation
- Manchester United have set a new deadline for the latest offers for the club
- Second bids from buyers and investors must be lodged by next Wednesday
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe and members of Ineos are meeting with United officials today
Second bids for Manchester United have to be lodged by the middle of next week – with final offers due around Easter, Sportsmail understands.
It had been thought that those in the running to buy the club – or provide investment – would be given around 10 days to lodge their second bids.
But sources in the City and within the club say that, in a tightening of the process, midweek is the cut-off point, with Wednesday the likeliest deadline.
It remains to be seen if, following second bids, those involved will enter into an exclusivity period with one group. However, it appears as though there may well be another round of bids with Easter pencilled in for the cut-off, where the likely winner is chosen.
The development comes as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and members of his Ineos group sit down today to talks with officials from the Raine Group, the US bankers running the process, and United officials.
Bidders for Manchester United have been given until Wednesday to submit their latest offers
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani are among those involved in bidding
They follow yesterday’s visit from those involved with the rival bid from Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani. That group toured Old Trafford before being sitting down for presentations at United’s Carrington training complex.
Ratcliffe was joined by ex-Team Sky and British Cycling supremo Sir Dave Brailsford, fellow Ineos owners Andy Currie and John Reece and Ineos chair and chief executive Rob Nevin and Jean Claude Blanc. Blanc worked for Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain as deputy chief executive for the past 12 years after joining from Juventus. The Frenchman left for Ineos in December and may well be able to provide the inside track on Ratcliffe’s main rivals.
Ratcliffe’s group wants to take the Glazers’ majority stake while Sheikh Jassim wants 100 per cent of the club and has promised to clear the historic debt from the Glazer’s leveraged buyout.
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