Sir Jim Ratcliffe: I want to buy Manchester United | Will make a bid for the club [Telegraph]

SAF is the GOAT said:
The Glazers payed bloody nothing to buy the club and will get north than 5bn, bloody rats.
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Part of that valuation has to go towards servicing the debt surely, they can't make a buyer pay them the market rate AND service the debt? As the debt lowers the net value of the asset doesn't it?

I know people are giddy over the Casemiero signing and there will be many more to come int he next 10 days. But hopefully the protest and the general mood against the Glazers continues as strong as ever. Little false dawns aside, they will never stop making a mockery of running this football club and need to go.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Part of that valuation has to go towards servicing the debt surely, they can't make a buyer pay them the market rate AND service the debt? As the debt lowers the net value of the asset doesn't it?
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Yes I believe that is the case. My rudimentary understanding of the LBO is that the Glazers were supposed to increase the value and proportion of their equity while paying off the debt - in reality, they’ve mainly just rolled the debt making very little progress towards reducing the principal and made around 700 mil Pounds in interest payments. The club’s value went up during that period and boosted the value of their equity stake.
The price the buyer pays should include the debt:
Enterprise Value = Market Cap + Debt - Cash

But then again, I’m not Corporate Finance and my understanding could be wrong.:wenger:

I know people are giddy over the Casemiero signing and there will be many more to come int he next 10 days. But hopefully the protest and the general mood against the Glazers continues as strong as ever.
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Fingers crossed our supporters can keep their heads and know what needs to be done - ie push out the vermin. I hope all these supporter groups and MUST can unite for the sake of United and make a concerted effort. There’s money that can be raised from International fans that can then be used towards organized protests and campaigns. All that money that many of us have not been spending on Man United merchandise, I’m sure we will happily donate towards funding “boots on the ground”.
 
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SirScholes said:
But it got pied didn’t it for ages then came to light later on a second time
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Nope.

2018 they just didn’t meet the asking price, 2020 they did but after a complaint from I think BeIN about the Saudis funding piracy of the Premier League tv rights it went to court, then when the court case was dropped the deal went through. It never went away, it just went quieter while the dull stuff was going on.
 
Summit said:
Greatest scam in history
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Most frustrating part about that for me is the legality of it. It really feels like dodgy business or immoral practices, but the way they made 5bn out of nothing was completely legal and not unheard of in the business world
 
hellhunter said:
Most frustrating part about that for me is the legality of it. It really feels like dodgy business or immoral practices, but the way they made 5bn out of nothing was completely legal and not unheard of in the business world
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Honestly can't begin to tell you what I thinking of the parasites!
 
Redjazz said:
Nah. He could buy out the four and the remaining 2 would retain control (about 70% voting power) even though their stake in the club is about 20%. The current a/b share structure makes this kind of takeover impossible.
Control would be a key issue for any investor willing to buy a minority stake. New shares with a greater voting power than the current A shares would be required.
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This is precisely why I don’t believe a word of the take over. No one is going to invest billions buying shares without control. The Glazers need to sell in their entirety otherwise the deal doesn’t make sense. Said before this type of story always comes out when we are on the slide. Whether it’s to give fans hope of change or to quash protests before they happen. The Glazers play United fans through the media. Even our latest transfer stories have upped in quality compared to two weeks ago because of the fan reaction.
 
hellhunter said:
Most frustrating part about that for me is the legality of it. It really feels like dodgy business or immoral practices, but the way they made 5bn out of nothing was completely legal and not unheard of in the business world
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Morally too. A handful of people have made that off the back of a national cultural icon, and the goodwill of millions of fans. The Uk government and FA need to take this into account. There was a poster a few days ago who posted an extremely eloquent letter he/she has sent to decision makers. This weekend, when I’m not working and have enough time I am going to use his/her letter as a basis to write my own and send to local/national decision makers (it is important it is not copy and paste). I urge everyone to do the same until the issue can’t go unnoticed
 
Josep Dowling said:
This is precisely why I don’t believe a word of the take over. No one is going to invest billions buying shares without control. The Glazers need to sell in their entirety otherwise the deal doesn’t make sense. Said before this type of story always comes out when we are on the slide. Whether it’s to give fans hope of change or to quash protests before they happen. The Glazers play United fans through the media. Even our latest transfer stories have upped in quality compared to two weeks ago because of the fan reaction.
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You’re not wrong and this was probably there intention again this time around but i feel and hope that this time the tide has turned and starting with the protest tomorrow and all the social and online stuff we can throw at them and this Apollo lot they get the message and do one.Wedon’t ease up until Sir Jim is at the wheel.
 
Tarrou said:
spending 60m on a 30 yo midfielder doesn't strike me as the actions of owners about to sell

unless.. the new owner is already agreed and has sanctioned it? seems highly unlikely
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Actually makes sound sense to me to inject money in now short term, help boast stock value, and help boast the team on the pitch.

As reality is they going to have to start investing off the pitch long term soon and we know that's even more money, something which they aren't going to do as it involve their own pockets
 
GaryLifo said:
This Apollo thing would be some of the Glazers being bought out of the club. Apollo would get their shares and they would walk off with the money.

Joel and Avram would be left in charge of the club.

No money would be invested into Manchester united by Apollo and no money by Joel and Avram because they wouldn't be getting any.

When Malcolm Glazer bought Manchester united he did it almost entirely with money he borrowed at incredibly high interest rates. Think almost payday loan levels. This was just to get the deal done. This was then refinanced at huge cost to the club, not the Glazers, into lower interest loans which, even to this day have not been paid off at all. Instead they have used United revenues just to pay the interest.

Does this help you understand my concerns now? They are not seeking money for the stadium or to buy players. 4 out of 6 Glazers want out of United and to use the money elsewhere. No equity firm worth its salt would do this deal and not want huge control in the company. However, Apollo are allegedly quite a shady outfit and so may just want to do a deal like this one. But they will be doing it in the hope that they will profit from a full future sale.
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Only one problem with your theory, any of the shares Apollo buy from the Glazers, they get diluted. They get converted to A class shares. So they don't hold the same voting rights of the B class shares.

When Malcolm was buying the shares back in 2003, they were all the same. So when they were scooping up the shares, none was different to the others. Not the case now.
 
Isle said:
He should try to get more ex-players and current players onboard and call for unification of fanbase under the GlazersOut campaign. Launch a multi pronged attack on Glazer ownership.
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He should persuade his former boss to join. After all his greed placed us in this mess
 
Mickeza said:
Not sure. He wants to be mayor.
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Watching him on the Diary of a CEO podcast yesterday, he was saying he doesn't want to go into politics.

And one thing that also sticks out is, his business acumen. He is knee deep in property etc. He will be part of the club, I'm pretty certain.
 
red thru&thru said:
Only one problem with your theory, any of the shares Apollo buy from the Glazers, they get diluted. They get converted to A class shares. So they don't hold the same voting rights of the B class shares.

When Malcolm was buying the shares back in 2003, they were all the same. So when they were scooping up the shares, none was different to the others. Not the case now.
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Absolutely. But yet to be seen whether Apollo (or others) would only be looking to buy B class shares. As it is widely rumoured that the other glazer siblings want out, hence their shareholdings are B class shares (presumably).

If they wanted A shares, they could have just gone on the open market to snap them up.

Heres hoping its the start of the glazers exiting our club.
 
I wonder whether this Apollo interest is real or not, and whether it’s actually a negotiating tactic from the Glazers. One of their key people already has a stake in Palace and another had very close ties to Epstein, and that name is something everyone wants to stay away from at all costs.
 
Mickeza said:
That’s interesting. It’s possible he’s involved in another another non-Ratcliffe bid. There’s going to be lots of buyers if this club is for sale.
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I believe it is the Ratcliffe consortium. There's already been talk of how someone from class of 92 are involved.
 
red thru&thru said:
I believe it is the Ratcliffe consortium. There's already been talk of how someone from class of 92 are involved.
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Radlcliffe is the real deal. A lifelong Utd fan, would be buying the club to get us back to the top. We need to do all we can to get the Glazers out. its not an easy transaction, Glazer siblings have different goals right now.
 
If a member of the class of 92 is involved, it will be one that isn't shouting from the rooftops for the Glazers to go imo. Beckham fits the bill perfectly.
 
Compton22 said:
If a member of the class of 92 is involved, it will be one that isn't shouting from the rooftops for the Glazers to go imo. Beckham fits the bill perfectly.
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Why would that matter?

Beckham is maxed out with his own project at FC Miami anyway. Gary Neville is the absolute front runner for all intents and purposes.
 
red thru&thru said:
He has said previously that he's not too sure how long he'd do punditry. If a gig like United comes along, I'm pretty sure he'd give it up.
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He gave it up to take the Valencia job didn't he? Can't imagine he would turn down an opportunity to be involved with United in a more strategic role whatever the obstacles are.
 
red thru&thru said:
Only one problem with your theory, any of the shares Apollo buy from the Glazers, they get diluted. They get converted to A class shares. So they don't hold the same voting rights of the B class shares.

When Malcolm was buying the shares back in 2003, they were all the same. So when they were scooping up the shares, none was different to the others. Not the case now.
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how is this a problem for my theory? I have said all the money paid by Apollo will go direct to the 4 Glazers who want out, the two remaining Glazers will now have majority control of the club, Apollo will own a huge chunk of the club but one that gives them a minority of voting rights. No money is invested into Manchester United.

in a few years, once Joel and Avram have realised that a super league as they want it will be unlikely to happen, they will have already squeezed every last penny they can from the club, and only then will they look to sell for what they will hope is still a huge price where Apollo double their investment.

I may well be wrong, I even hope I am wrong, but nothing I have expressed here is outside the realms of possibility and especially not when you look at the track record of the utter cnuts who currently own the club.
 
red thru&thru said:
He has said previously that he's not too sure how long he'd do punditry. If a gig like United comes along, I'm pretty sure he'd give it up.
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Maybe. Sky would try to pull out all of the stops to prevent him from leaving though. He's a huge asset for them.
 
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