Finnish businessman Zilliacus ready to pay premium for Manchester United
Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus has placed a bid for Manchester United (MANU.N) and is willing to pay a premium for the English soccer club, the former Nokia executive told Reuters on Thursday.
A small portion of the club's shares is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The market capitalization was more than $4 billion as of Wednesday's close.
"We are willing and expect to go higher than that $3.9 billion," Zilliacus said in a statement.
United's current owners, the Glazer family, began looking at options including new investment or a potential sale in November, 17 years after they bought the record 20-time English champions for 790 million pounds ($971.70 million).
Zilliacus said he hoped the Glazer family would want "to go down in history as sellers who enabled the fans of Manchester United to become owners of the club".
As part of the bid, he expects to invite fans of the club from around the world to be co-owners and make sporting decisions for the team.
"I want the fans to feel that they have a say in all the key sporting decisions of the club," Zilliacus said.
Manchester United declined to comment.
Any sale of the club would likely exceed the biggest sports deal so far - the $5.2 billion including debt and investments paid for Chelsea - sources had told Reuters previously.
British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, a life-long United fan and founder of chemicals producer INEOS, put in a bid for the club in February.
($1 = 0.8130 pounds)
"We are willing and expect to go higher than that $3.9 billion," Zilliacus said in a statement.
United's current owners, the Glazer family, began looking at options including new investment or a potential sale in November, 17 years after they bought the record 20-time English champions for 790 million pounds ($971.70 million).
Zilliacus said he hoped the Glazer family would want "to go down in history as sellers who enabled the fans of Manchester United to become owners of the club".
As part of the bid, he expects to invite fans of the club from around the world to be co-owners and make sporting decisions for the team.
"I want the fans to feel that they have a say in all the key sporting decisions of the club," Zilliacus said.
Manchester United declined to comment.
Any sale of the club would likely exceed the biggest sports deal so far - the $5.2 billion including debt and investments paid for Chelsea - sources had told Reuters previously.
British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, a life-long United fan and founder of chemicals producer INEOS, put in a bid for the club in February.
($1 = 0.8130 pounds)
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.