Now it’s official: British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is a Manchester United shareholder. The 71-year-old has acquired 27.7 percent of the Red Devils’ shares
“Becoming a co-owner of Manchester United is a great honor and comes with great responsibility,” Ratcliffe was quoted as saying in a Manchester United press release on Tuesday evening: “While this marks the completion of the transaction, it is only the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world soccer.”
The two parties had reached an agreement on Ratcliffe’s entry on Christmas Eve 2023 after lengthy negotiations. The Premier League had initially given its approval, but the English FA has now also given the green light as of February 17. Man United confirmed the takeover of the shares on Tuesday evening.
Ratcliffe is even taking over more shares than initially planned. In the deal negotiated in December, there was talk of 25 percent of the shares. As ManUnited has now announced, Ratcliffe has even invested in 27.7 percent of the shares. The two parties did not provide any financial details. However, the BBC had already mentioned the sum of 1.4 billion euros for the 25%. Following the conclusion of the original share package, Ratcliffe has now invested a further 200 million US dollars. He will also invest a further 100 million US dollars by December 31, 2024 at the latest. These funds are intended to enable future investments in Old Trafford
Ratcliffe will take over sporting responsibility at Manchester United
The majority owner remains the US Glazer family, who are unpopular with Red Devils supporters. However, Ratcliffe will now assume responsibility for sporting matters in return for his financial commitment: “As a local boy and lifelong supporter of the club, I am very happy that we have found an agreement with the Manchester United board that transfers responsibility for the management of the soccer business to us,” Ratcliffe said last year, referring to the sporting expertise in his company.
Ratcliffe is the founder and CEO of the chemical company Ineos, which is already involved as a sponsor in various sports. The Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport and the French club OGC Nice are already part of Ineos’ portfolio. Ratcliffe and his company are also active in cycling (Ineos-Grenadiers) and sailing.
Official buyer of the shares is “Trawler Limited “
However, the name of the company acting as the official buyer of Man United shares is “Trawlers Limited”, which is also wholly owned by Ratcliffe. The latter had already announced that he would not use any funds from Ineos to acquire a stake in ManUnited.
