Sir Jim Ratcliffe formally submits 25 per cent Man Utd offer with expected takeover date revealed

JIM RATCLIFFE has officially submitted his offer for a 25 per cent share of Manchester United – and it is expected to be finalised by mid-February.

The move – which was first agreed on Christmas Eve – was officially put forward on the New York Stock exchange on Wednesday.

PA

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has officially submitted his offer for a 25 per cent share in Man Utd[/caption]

And the development comes as the Red Devils announced a loss of £25.8million for the quarter year which ended on September 30.

However, the Ineos billionaire will be encouraged to see record revenues of £157m posted for those three months.

The figures show Man Utd’s wage bill has gone up by 9.7% to £90.3m after they signed seven new players in the summer window.

The salaries of the squad would also have gone up as they returned to the Champions League this season due to clauses in their contracts.

Erik ten Hag sanctioned almost £180m worth of new signings – in the shape of Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana.

In order to balance the books and comply with the Premier League’s FFP guidelines, they pocketed almost £30m from selling Anthony Elanga, Fred and Dean Henderson.

Man Utd have lowered their financial forecast for 2024 in light of their disappointing early exit from European football.

The Red Devils finished bottom of their Champions League group – meaning they did not even get the consolation of a Europa League place.

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That means there will be few midweek matches over the remainder of the season and added to prize money could cost them between £30 and £45m.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Wednesday that Ratcliffe’s company are looking to buy 13,237,834 Class A ordinary shares.

It read: “The offer and withdrawal rights will expire at one minute after 11.59pm eastern time on February 13, 2024, unless the offer is extended or earlier terminated.

The filing also said Ratcliffe’s shares would collectively “represent a 27.69 per cent ownership interest and 28.71 per cent voting interest in the Company”.

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