Finnish Thomas Zilliacus, Qatari sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and British Sir Jim Ratcliffe are bidding. Before raising his offer, Zilliacus suggested buying the club jointly.
Ossi Saarinen,
Hinn Hirvonen
25.3. 18:41•Updated 25.3. 19:03
The bidding competition for the great British football club Manchester United is intensifying. On Saturday afternoon, a Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus announced that he had increased his purchase offer for the club.
Zilliacus went public on Friday and said that he wants to buy half of the club with the supporters.
Before Zilliacus’s surprise offer, it was known that the sheikh of Qatar Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani and a British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe had offered company.
Jassim’s representative said on Saturday that the sheik has increased his offer after Zilliacus joined the race. Ratcliffe had time to raise his own offer earlier in the week.
In 2005, the American Glazer family bought the club for 790 million pounds. The Glazers announced their intention to sell last November. The asking price has been estimated at up to six billion pounds.
The Ineos company, owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, aims to own about 69 percent of the club. Sheikki Jassim’s Nine Two foundation aims for one hundred percent ownership.
Zilliacus has made a purchase offer through the XXI Century Capital investment company.
– XXI Century Capital raised its bid for Manchester United last night. We will return the club to its days of greatness as the kings of Europe and significantly increase the club’s already huge fan base around the world, Zilliacus announced on his Twitter account.
Zilliacus also said that he contacted both Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe. He says that he proposed buying the club together.
– That way we could focus on the best of the club, instead of wasting money in a crazy bid race against each other, Zilliacus wrote.
– However, I have not received an answer, so XXI Century Capital has increased its offer.
The Glazers have authorized the Raine Group investment company to handle the sale process of Manchester United. Next, the company reviews the purchase offers with the owner family.
This is known about the buyer candidates
Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Ratcliffe has submitted a takeover offer through his company Ineos.
Ratcliffe’s Ineos already owns the French football club OGC Nice as well as the Swiss Lausanne. The company also owns a sailing team and a cycling team, in addition to which it has signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Formula 1 team Mercedes.
The 70-year-old British billionaire Ratcliffe was born in Greater Manchester and says that he has supported Manchester United since childhood.
Ratcliffe previously also sought to buy Chelsea, but the offer arrived late. According to the billionaire, he first sought to buy United, but stated that the Glazer owner brothers were still reluctant to sell the club in October.
There is no exact information about Ratcliffe’s assets. Forbes estimates the British billionaire’s fortune at 12.5 billion pounds, while the Sunday Times believes Ratcliffe’s fortune is closer to six billion.
Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani
Sheikki Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation is interested in 100% ownership of Manchester United. He is also the chairman of the Qatari bank QIB.
Sheikki Jassim says he started supporting Manchester United when he was 10 years old. He has promised to invest in both the men’s and women’s teams, refurbish the legendary Old Trafford stadium and its surroundings, and the club’s training grounds.
The son of the former prime minister of Qatar has received his education in Britain, Sandhurst.
So far, the most famous Qatari-owned club is the French PSG, which has been owned by Qatar Sports Investment since 2012.
The PSG boss of Nasser al-Khelaif is believed to play a significant role in the offer made to Manchester United as well. QSI, which he heads, is known to be interested to buy at least a minority stake in a Premier League club (you switch to another service).
Thomas Zilliacus
Thomas Zilliacus, 69, worked for a long time as Nokia’s Asian director in the 1980s and 1990s. He tells Helsingin Sanomat that he has become prosperous (you will switch to another service) with real estate deals, shares and starting companies.
Zilliacus has submitted a purchase offer through the XXI Century Capital investment company. He owns the business through his company.
In sports, he has acted as chairman of HJK and co-owner of Jokerie. He has two-level experience as a footballer, as he played as a 20-year-old midfielder for Granku IFK.
Zilliacus was also the chairman of the current Liike Nyt party when founding the Helsinki arena Harry “Hjallis” Harkimon with and also proposed selling the hall and the Jokerit hockey team to the Russians.