Ineos’s bid values Manchester United at more than 5 billion pounds: The Times

Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has outbid a Qatari group led Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani in the battle to buy Manchester United, The Times reported on Saturday, citing sources.
Ineos is the only bidder to have valued the club higher than 5 billion pounds ($6.29 billion), the report added.
Earlier in the day, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the son of Qatar’s former prime miner, submitted his final bid for the entirety of Manchester United just before Friday’s deadline, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In addition to offering a figure to buy the English Premier League soccer club, Sheikh Jassim’s proposal also includes a plan for a further significant amount of additional capital and infrastructure investment, the source told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential.
The source added that the bid is for 100% of the club and would remove all debt.
Manchester United’s American owners launched a formal sale process late last year and have received several bids, including from British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, founder of chemicals producer INEOS, and Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus.
Sky Sports News reported that Ratcliffe’s bid for a majority stake in Manchester United has also been submitted.
Any sale of Manchester United would likely exceed the biggest sports deal so far, the $5.2 billion including debt and investments paid for Chelsea, sources told Reuters previously.
United are the fourth richest soccer club in the world, according to analysis Deloitte. They are widely seen as one of the most prized assets in all of sport.
A small portion of the club’s shares is led on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s market value was about $3.4 billion, as of Thursday’s close.
In March, Reuters reported that Sheikh Jassim had submitted a second bid to buy the club.