Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus said on Thursday that he had made a purchase offer for the football club Manchester United. The English Manchester United is one of the biggest football brands in the world.
Manchester United is currently owned by the American Glazer family, who announced in November that they were ready to sell the club.
In the media, the sale price of the Manchester club has been estimated at more than five billion euros. Zilliacus rate in your announcement (you will switch to another service)that United’s current market value is less than 3.9 billion dollars, or about 3.6 billion euros.
Zilliacus is by no means the only buyer candidate.
Among other things sports media The Athletic tells (you will switch to another service)that the top candidates for the new owner of the club are the richest man in Britain Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Qatari sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani.
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.
Zilliacus said he plans to buy the club together with the supporters.
– In the end, all sports clubs must belong to its supporters, Zilliacus says in the announcement.
– The current development, where billionaire sheiks and oligarchs take over clubs and treat them as their personal playgrounds, is not healthy, he continues.
Based on the current information, it is difficult to assess what kind of opportunities Zilliacus really has to buy Manchester United.
Current owners out of favor with supporters
The American Glazer family has owned Manchester United since 2005. Among supporters, the US owners have not gained much popularity.
The reasons go back to the already disputed purchase process: the deceased Malcolm Glazer acquired majority ownership of the club in 2005, controversially, mainly with debt money. According to media reports, the debt is still estimated at 500 million pounds.
Nowadays, the company is run by Malcolm Glazer’s sons Joel and Avram Glazer. Supporters have been protesting against the owners for years. Already in 2010, they started wearing the club’s original, yellow-green colors. In the spring of 2021, the Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool even had to be canceled when United supporters protested against the owners’ Super League plans.
In November, the Glazers unexpectedly announced that they are ready (you switch to another service) to sell Manchester United. However, they have reportedly not decided whether they want to sell the club completely or perhaps partially. The schedule has not been locked in either.
What next?
Before Zilliacus’ offer, potential buyer candidates already got to know Manchester United’s operations.
According to The Athletic, Sheikki Jassim’s representatives spent ten hours as a guest of Manchester United. Jim Ratcliffe met the representatives of the club.
Apparently, however, the representatives of the club’s current owners are waiting to see if there will be more purchase offers.
It is currently unclear how long potential buyers have to make offers.
One interesting issue related to current candidates may affect the deal.
Uefa rules (you switch to another service) prohibit ownership in several clubs that play in the same competition, i.e. for example, two clubs of the same owner playing in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League should not be possible according to the rules.
Ratcliffe owns the French club OGC Nice and the Swiss club Lausanne.
Qatari QSI owns PSG. However, the rule does not apply to the minority share, which QSI is aiming for according to media reports.
The story was edited on 23.3. 14:44: Corrected the age of Thomas Zilliacus. He’s 69, not 59.