British billionaire taps JPMorgan, Goldman to advise on Man United bid

BRITISH billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc to advise him on a bid for Manchester United FC, the English football giant that’s drawing takeover interest from Qatar, a source said.

The chairman of chemicals group Ineos Group Holdings is working with the Wall Street banks as he studies the feasibility of an offer for Manchester United, widely regarded as one of the biggest brands in world football, the source said.

Manchester United has been the subject of intensifying takeover chatter since the summer, when Bloomberg News reported the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, were open to selling a stake in the team.

Shares in Manchester United surged in New York this week, on reports that wealthy Qatari investors are planning a bid to take over the whole club. Adam Sommerfeld, a sports investment specialist at Certus Capital, said any offer for the English Premier League team would need to exceed £4 billion (S$6.47 billion) to be successful.

Ratcliffe, a Manchester United fan, was the first serious contender to officially declare himself interested in acquiring the club. Having co-founded Ineos in the 1990s, he’s worth US$13 billion today, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last year, he was unsuccessful with a late offer worth £4.25 billion to buy Chelsea FC, another Premier League club.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs will be able to advise Ratcliffe on bid tactics for Manchester United, as well as potentially help arrange financing for any offer. Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty Ratcliffe will decide to proceed with a bid, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

Representatives for Goldman Sachs, Ineos and JPMorgan declined to comment.

Wall Street’s biggest banks have become increasingly active as advisers to football clubs and their owners as more money pours into the world’s favourite sport. In January, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs submitted separate proposals to provide debt finance to Serie A, Italy’s top football league.

In recent times, JPMorgan has also acted for the Glazers on the sale of some shares in Manchester United, advised Italian club Juventus FC on a 400 million euro (S$569.7 million) rights issue and provided financing to France’s Ligue 1 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

SEE ALSO

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos to buy Sika assets

Jim Ratcliffe's late Chelsea FC offer 'rejected out of hand'

Jim Ratcliffe makes late £4.25 billion bid for Chelsea FC

Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, is working alongside Morgan Stanley with the owners of Liverpool FC on the possible sale of all or part of their holding in the Premier League club, people familiar with the matter said last year. In Spain, Goldman Sachs is helping to arrange funds to revamp FC Barcelona’s stadium. 

JPMorgan came in for criticism in 2021 when it emerged as the bank backing plans for a breakaway Super League in Europe. Roundly derided by fans, leagues and politicians, the proposal concocted by many of European football’s biggest clubs was quickly scrapped. This week, consultancy A22 Sports Management published a set of principles under which a revised Super League might work. BLOOMBERG