Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirms new bid for Manchester United

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has disclosed that he has made a new bid for Manchester United and is confident his offer will be accepted.

The Raine Group, the bank handling the sale of the club, gave the bidders time to tweak their second bids by extending the Wednesday evening deadline.

Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani are the two main bidders for the club. Both men have now submitted new bids after speaking with club executives.

The talks between Man United and the bidders reportedly went well with both parties. They spoke about the sporting and financial side of the deal.

A statement from an INEOS spokesperson read (via Manchester Evening News): “Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS can confirm we have submitted a revised bid.”

His second offer is an improvement upon his initial £3.5 billion bid, although it is not clear if it will meet the Glazer family’s £5bn asking price.

Ratcliffe has reiterated that he will not overpay for the club.

However, the Glazers still expect United to become the most expensive sports team in history.

They expect any deal for the club to be more than the $4.65 billion that Walmart heir Rob Walton and his daughter and son-in-law paid for the Denver Broncos.

American investment firm Elliott Management have bid for a minority stake in Man United. The former AC Milan owners also want to help any successful bidders to finance the deal.

The Glazers may be open to Elliott’s minority investment as they still have doubts about selling all their stake. They could accept a small investment and continue running the club.

Ratcliffe and Sheikh Al Thani want to buy the club outright, but the Glazer family will only sell at their price. There are rumours that there could be a third round of bids for the club.