According to information gathered by Football Insider, Manchester United have suspended certain promotional activities as the club prepares to meet with possible investors during the next phase of the takeover procedure. This action occurs as Manchester United prepares to meet with possible investors in the next phase of the takeover procedure.
Due to the continued instability surrounding the club’s future ownership, the club’s commercial department has opted not to approve any new sponsorship arrangements of substantial magnitude.
United are currently seeking a new front-of-shirt sponsor after completing a deal with TeamViewer earlier this season to gain back their rights. Earlier this season, the arrangement to buy back their rights was reached. This is a significant new development.
This arrangement was worth a total of £235 million during its five-year lifespan, and industry experts, such as Football Insider’s resident financial expert Kieran Maguire, believe that Manchester United will attempt to increase that sum with their next contract. The contract in question was valued at a total of £235 million throughout its five-year tenure.
If the Glazer family decides to sell the team, the commercial department will continue to pursue potential new sponsors, but the choice will ultimately be made by the new owners.
It is possible that the two frontrunners to buy the club, a Qatari consortium led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company Ineos, wish to leverage United’s global name to advance their own economic interests. Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani directs the Qatari faction. Sir Jim Ratcliffe oversees Ineos. Currently, both of these entities are being considered as possible purchasers for the club.
In addition to giving financial assistance and serving as a sponsor for the professional cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, Ratcliffe is the current owner of the French club OGC Nice, whose players’ uniforms bear the Ineos logo. In addition, Ratcliffe owns the Ineos Grenadiers, a professional cycling team.
Sheikh Jassim, on the other hand, was the former head of the Qatar Investment Authority, which maintains a portfolio of enterprises worth more than £400 billion and offers numerous opportunities for future commercial partnerships.
The most recent major new sponsorship announcement by United was made at the beginning of January, when the club partnered with Doo Group, a Singaporean financial services company. This was United’s most recent significant new sponsorship announcement.
The club has a total of 25 global partners, in addition to a number of other regionally-specific partnerships.
While the takeover processes progress, it is expected, but not verified, that United will continue to negotiate and manage partnerships of a more modest nature.
Jassim and Ratcliffe are the only two parties who have made their interest in owning the club public. Yet, the US firms Ares and Elliott Management have also been affiliated with the club.
On the other hand, it has been reported that a number of additional consortiums and financial institutions are considering making offers for minority ownership.
It has been reported that parties interested in purchasing Glazers’ shares will travel to Manchester this week to meet with the Raine Group’s takeover brokers. Regardless of the reality of these speculations, the Glazers remain confident that a transaction will be finalized within the first three months of 2023.
Yet, if the family remains steadfast in its valuation of the club at £6 billion, this deadline appears overly optimistic.
It is commonly estimated that the costs involved with all of the formal ideas that have been developed to date were between 4.5 and 5 billion pounds.