
English Premier League (EPL) giant and probably one of the most celebrated football clubs around the world, Manchester United, is attracting a lot of eyes ever since its owners made it public that they were looking for strategic alternatives for the development of the club. Since then, multiple groups have shown interest in the club for ownership. Many groups from Middle East countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia are particularly interested in the club. According to ESPN, multiple consortiums of investors from the Middle East are expected to confirm their interest by submitting proof of fund for potential ownership, partial or complete, of the Red Devils.
Among the interesting parties are a consortium led by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund —Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a bid by private investors backed by QIA, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also encouraged private investors of the country. Apart from that, US-based asset manager Oaktree Capital and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliff, CEO of chemical company INEOS have also shown interest in buying Manchester United.
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Glazer family, the current owners, who have owned the club since 2005, had in November last year shared their interest of seeking outside investment in the club. Merchant bank The Raine Group is handling the process on their behalf and has fielded the enquiries about full takeover and smaller investment.
Talking about the price tag, the Glazers peg the club at $7.2 billion but the industry experts, as per ESPN, believe that the realistic price tag is around $5.4 billion. Meanwhile, Glazers are also split on the best way forward as both Joel and Avaram Glazer want to retain control, according to ESPN.
The National Football League's (NFL) Denver Broncos are the most expensive sports franchise in the world after being sold for $4.65 billion last year. In EPL, Man-U's rival Chelsea were sold for $3.01 billion in May last year.
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