Details Of Manchester United's Imminent Sale Expected Pre-Q3 Earnings: Implications For Team And Investors

Manchester United PLC MANU is about to get sold.

What Happened: "The results [of the sale] from a bidder perspective will already be known" by the time the football club reports earnings on June 27, an M&A advisor tells Benzinga.

The likely winner of the Manchester auction is Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, who reportedly made a final bid earlier this month.

"I'm genuinely not sure what the hold up is here," the source added.

See Also: Manchester United Attracts Record Takeover Bid

Earnings Preview: For the third quarter (Q3), analysts predict:

• Losses per share of £0.04 (US$0.05) compared to losses of £0.138 per share over the same three-month period last year.
• £137 million (US$174 million) in revenue, 10.34% less than the prior-year quarter report of £152.8 million. 
• For the fiscal year, a loss per share of £0.208, compared to £-0.208 in the same period last year.
• Sales estimates averaged £603.1 million (US$767 million), up from the previous year's £583.2 million.

M&A Talks: The club's owners, the Glazer business family, have been shopping the team around since November 2022.

Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus and Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group were also believed to have been actively bidding for Manchester United. Merchant bank Raine Group has been advising the sale process.

The valuation is expected to be around £6 billion or higher. That would mean the team is valued at 7x-8x sales, according to BlackBull Research.

For reference, Liberty Formula One, the parent company of the Formula One franchise, was sold to Liberty Media in 2017 for $4.4 billion.

Why It Matters: Manchester United is one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world. Over the course of 145 years, it won 67 trophies and amassed a following of more than a billion fans across the globe.

Ownership under the Glazer family since 2005 has been described as "tenuous." If Sheikh Jassim's firm, Nine Two UK Holdings Ltd, is successful, it could be seen as a fresh start.

Observers of the deal, however, have called attention to the fact that Sheikh Jassim is the chair of the Qatar Islamic Bank, which is owned by the Qatar sovereign wealth fund. And the bid comes on the heels of a highly-criticized World Cup, an event that took place in Qatar and was praised by FIFA but boycotted by fans due to the nation's treatment of migrant workers and human rights violations.

A deal with Sheikh Jassim would also mark yet another football club loss for Ratcliffe, who was unsuccessful in acquiring Chelsea F.C. last year.

Ratcliffe, who is currently ranked among the top 30 wealthiest people in the UK, founded the chemical company Ineos in 1998.

The 69-year-old businessman is also the owner of French club Nice, which he would have had to sell if he won Manchester United, as well as FC Lausanne-Sport in Switzerland.

Outside football, Ratcliffe also purchased the Team Sky cycling franchise in 2019, now known as the Ineos Grenadiers. He has sponsorship deals with a Mercedes-Benz Formula One team.

Price Action: Manchester United was trading at $22.55 per share, down 0.22%, at the time of writing on Monday.

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