Bombshell reports from Qatar far from conclusive over Manchester United sale – Man United News And Transfer News

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Yesterday evening a number of reports emerged suggesting that the end of the Manchester United sales process was in sight, with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani seeing his fifth (and final) bid accepted by the Glazer family.

The Mirror cites an article from Qatari outlet Al-Watan as suggesting that an announcement regarding Al Thani’s successful bid would happen “soon.” Al-Watan is a publication part-owned by Sheikh Jassim’s father, which may have increased confidence that a resolution was imminent. However it must be noted that no such article exists on Al-Watan’s website.

That does not mean there has been no smoke coming from Qatar, however, and Al-Watan’s twitter feed does mention that “Press reports” indicate an impending victory for the bid.

The fact that the publication’s twitter feed has gone so far as to pin said tweet might speak volumes. In addition, Fahed Al Emadi, Al-Watan’s Editorial Director, has wholeheartedly endorsed the reports, tweeting, “All the news received indicates the success of Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim’s acquisition of Manchester United, and the announcement of the deal will be very soon.”

It is perhaps as close as Former Emir and father of Sheik Jassim, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, can legally come to confirming the reports, given the non-disclosure agreements at play regarding the sales process. The Raine Group, handling the sale on the Glazers’ behalf, are known to have been disappointed with the previously public stances of both bidders in the past.

Sport360 Arabiya journalist Mohammed Al-Kaabi, who appears to have been onto the story as fast as anyone else, tweeted a picture of a Qatari flag above Old Trafford, with the caption “very soon,” shortly after posting the following:

“When we said things would be settled before the 30th of March in favor of the new owners of United, things were heading in the right direction, and the Glazers had told the new investors twice to increase the offer and that was done. Sir Jim Ratcliffe movie. [sic]

“After that, the Glazer spoke with the president of a European club to talk to the new owners to raise the value of the offer for the third or even fourth time.. Now things are positive and heading towards the right track.”

It would appear that confidence is high in Qatar, and that is reflected in the after-hours trading numbers from yesterday.

Manchester United shares were trading at around $24 after hours last night, an increase of 16.74% on Monday’s closing price of $20.13. Interestingly, those highs were reached within minutes of Al-Kaabi’s “very soon” tweet, having been reasonably steady prior to it.

As explained by BBC Economics Editor Faisal Islam, the Qatari bid’s promise of a 100% takeover of Man United means that share price fluctuation is a strong indicator of investor confidence in a good result for Sheikh Jassim.

“To explain – reason share price is a gauge of perceived likelihood of Qatar victory, is Jassim bid is for 100% of shares & will pay out on NY listed shares at takeover price,” Islam tweeted earlier.

“Ineos bid is believed to be focussed on the Glazer shares alone, listed shares won’t immediately benefit.”

But while the numbers from yesterday’s trading do suggest an increase in “perceived likelihood,” they are by no means an infallible indicator. The timeline of media reports and price increases would suggest that the reason behind the latter was indeed the former. This is a point well made by the popular @Muppetiers twitter account, which contests the veracity of the original source and the meaning of the subsequent reaction from the stock market.

Contrast the current situation with the Glazer family’s now-infamous ‘strategic alternatives’ announcement back in November. Share prices reached dizzying heights hours before Sky News’ Mark Kleinmen broke the news that the club was up for sale. The market was clearly responding to inside information and knew that something was coming.

In this instance, it would appear that the market is responding to information readily available to everyone. Confidence may be increasing within the Qatari media landscape, but there is little chance that Sir Jim Ratcliffe will take much notice. At this point, both bidders are as they were and, as reported by The Peoples Person yesterday, it seems somewhat unlikely that either party will enter into any kind of ‘period of exclusivity’ with either the Raine Group or the Glazers at this time.

As desperate as everyone involved is for a swift conclusion to the creeping crawl that is the Glazers’ sales process, it does not seem too much closer on the basis of recent reports – at least not in any way we can say with complete confidence.

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