Much excitement in Manchester United (NASDAQ: MANU) shares this morning as a rumour that the long awaited sale is about to be announced does the rounds. This could well be so - we've all known for a long time that the Glazers are looking for a way out. As we mentioned before about Manchester United:
“The Glazers have - well, maybe they have - put Manchester United up for sale. There were and are a number of bidders. The price is looking good. But there's a battle going on between the Qataris and Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos (Britain's richest man). So much so that the bidding period has been extended, as there are claims that the latest and finest offers were not, in fact, received.”
Maybe it's all about to happen then. Certainly, lots are saying that it's about to: “However, the process has been prolonged until the end of the season. Sheikh Jassim recently made a fifth and final offer on the table to beat Ratcliffe in the takeover race. It now appears the proposal has been successful. Al-Watan, an organisation owned by Sheikh Jassim's father, have claimed that an announcement of the deal is due ‘soon'.” Well, OK. “Qatar's Al-Watan newspaper reported Tuesday evening that Sheikh Jassim, a son of the country's former prime minister, is poised to be announced as the preferred bidder of the Premier League soccer club.”
OK, well, that's perhaps not as strong a rumour as all that to be honest. It could even be true but that's not the sort of information to bet the housepayment upon. Still, the shares have jumped:
Manchester United share price from NASDAQ
It's worth noting there that the share price started out high at 4 am and has been, in general, falling since then. This is not the sign of a market whipping itself into a frenzy over the imminence of a takeover deal.
We're very certain that a deal is going to be announced soon, yes. But we'll take a raincheck on having to define the length of time meant by the word “soon”. It will either be Jim Ratcliffe or the Qataris, we don't know who and we don't know at what price.
To be honest we wouldn't be at all surprised if this story about the Qataris having already won didn't come from some source close to, well, close to an American family that owns sports clubs shall we say. Just to make sure those final bids are as high as anyone's possibly willing to go.
