The outcome may satisfy the deal’s principals, though it is unlikely to please many others. The stock’s drop reflects disappointment among minority shareholders at the loss of the hefty takeover premium they could have expected in selling off the whole club.
The year-long Manchester United takeover saga echoes the team’s pursuit of revival on the pitch: Plenty of sound and fury, a periodic surge of hope that something spectacular might happen, and then the inevitable letdown with an underwhelming result.
Shares of Manchester United fell as much as 13% in early US trading on Oct 16 following the news that a Qatari group led by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad J J Al Thani had withdrawn its bid to buy the club. The Qatari exit means British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals company Ineos Group Holdings and a lifelong United fan, is poised to buy a minority stake from the controlling American Glazer family.
