Sir Jim Ratcliffe Completes Purchase Of Manchester United Minority Shares

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of Manchester United's minority stake (doc. Manchester United).

JAKARTA - The 27.7 percent purchase of Manchester United's minority stake by Sir Jim Radcliffe has been completed. The British billionaire is now making it possible to control the club's operations.

The owner of Ineos completed the acquisition of 25 percent of the club's Class B shares and 25 percent of the club's Class A shares.

Investasi dari Trawlers Ltd, perusahaan yang kepenuhnya oleh Radcliffe, mendapat izinkan Liga Inggri dan Asosiasi Sepak Bola Inggri (FA) pada pekan lalu.

"Being one of the owners of Manchester United is a great honor and is accompanied by great responsibility."

"This marks the completion of the transaction. However, this is just the beginning of our journey to bring Manchester United back to the pinnacle of English, European and world football with world-class facilities for our fans."

"Efforts to achieve that goal will be accelerated starting today," said Radcliffe at Sky Sports.

Ratcliffe has agreed to pay 26 pounds (US$33) per share for a quarter of Class A shares, and paid at the price for 25 percent of the Glazer family's Class B shares. Each Class B stake voted 10 times more than Class A shares.

The next shares have been issued in exchange for an initial capital investment of 158.5 million pounds (200 million US dollars) made by Radcliffe after the deal is finalized.

He will invest 79.2 million pounds (100 million US dollars) again on December 31, 2024 and his holdings will increase to 28.9 percent.

Joel Glazer as one of the owners of Manchester United welcomed the completion of the minority share purchase.

"I would like to welcome Sir Jim as one of the owners and look forward to working with him and Ineos Sport to give Manchester United a bright future," said Joel Glazer.

The completion of this deal marks the end of the story that began in November 2022 when the Glazer family announced a strategic review plan that might include club sales.

Ratcliffe along with Qatar businessman Sheikh Jassim took the lead when full sales plans emerged. However, the Qatar entrepreneur resigned in October 2023.

Ratcliffe's focus then went to significant minority stock purchases and is now finally over.

Ratcliffe and his team haven't wasted time getting to know the club for the past seven weeks. He tries to solve the club's problems with Sir Dave Brailsford, Sporting Director at INEOS, always around the club.

Brailsford's appointment was made by Ratcliffe after consulting Joel and Avram Glazer.

Recently, it was rumored that Ratcliffe was ready to recruit the Director of Sports at Newcastle United, Dan Ashworth.

Ashworth is at the top of Ratcliffe's list for football operations at Old Trafford. However, signing Ashworth was not easy.

Newcastle has yet to say a definite figure for Ashworth's recruitment. However, it is estimated that the value could reach more than 10 million pounds so that he can immediately work for Manchester United ahead of the summer transfer window.