One thing I'm surprised the pro-Ratcliffe bunch haven't caught on (I'm certainly not one of them) is how even as far back as August last year, Ratcliffe talked about potentially buying himself into the club gradually to a majority stake.
I would not be surprised if his Glazers stay offer has some buyout clauses if the club (and their remaining shares) reach a certain valuation. I'm sure he won't want to pay off the Glazers at 10bn but probably at 6/7 or 8 max because he'd want the remainder for himself if he's the only one investing.
Not exactly this, but Castles reported something similar, that the Joel and Avram would be offered a premium if they sell in 1 year and (I believe) a little less of a premium if they sell in 2 years. If they don't sell by then, the premium offer is gone.
So if true, the situation is this. Joel and Avram refuse to sell now short of their full valuation if the 6bn (at 69%, divided by 6 Glazers, thats almost 700m each). The other 4 Glazers do want to sell below that amount (at a 5bn valuation, that would be 575m each). But neither SJR nor SJ can offer J&A 700m, while offering the other 4 575m at the same time. So they give the other 4 the 575m now, but then J&A will get their 700m (perhaps even more) if they leave in 1-2 years. If they don't accept that, their shares will realistically be worth closer to what the NYSE valuation is.
*The amounts per sibling listed above are not exact, as some have sold off shares in the past and therefore own different percentages. For the sake of ease, I just calculated based on the the average, if they all owned the same amount.
**Obviously, this is based on reports which isn't necessarily factual, so it's just with the caveat of IF Castles report is true.
