Man Utd advisors confirm Sheikh Jassim is real following Sir Jim Ratcliffe jibe
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS purchased minority stake in Man Utd last month
- Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim rivalled them last year but doubts were raised over his legitimacy
- Raine Group have confirmed holding meetings with him prior to pulling out of race
By Sean Walsh
The co-founder of Raine Group, who acted as Manchester United's financial advisor during their recent takeover process, has confirmed Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani is a real person despite suggestions otherwise.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS won the race to purchase a 28% stake in United after the club confirmed in 2022 they were considering investment options. At the time, the Glazer family were open to a full sale.
Though Ratcliffe was successful with his bid, he was rivalled for several months by Sheikh Jassim, a member of the Qatari royal family and chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank. However, his low profile and minimal online presence led to various columns questioning whether he was actually a real person, and Ratcliffe even joked about this during one of his first interviews after being onboarded at United.
"Still nobody's ever seen him, actually," Ratcliffe said of Sheikh Jassim. "The Glazers never met him...he never...I'm not sure he exists!"
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But in an interview with The Times, Joe Ravitch of Raine Group insisted Sheikh Jassim was indeed real and detailed his bid for the club.
"We met Jassim. He was in New York. He's a lovely guy; a very smart guy," Ravitch said. "The Qataris were very real. They were very smart guys, very thoughtful. I don't know why they didn't appreciate the value [of the club] but we were not their adviser.
"We tried as the seller to explain the value to them, and they put what they thought was a series of very serious bids on the table.
"My clients [the Glazers] are also smart guys. We thought the value would be around $6.5bn [£5bn], so we were kind of spot on with regards to where Ratcliffe ended up.
"But when the Washington Commanders [NFL team] went for $6bn we all thought: 'Well, United is the most important sports team in the world; more than a billion fans. The Commanders own one 32nd of the NFL. Their economics are severely limited by the commercial sharing caps placed on it by the league. We know that because the Glazers also own a NFL team. Therefore if someone is willing to pay six billion for the Commanders, someone should be willing to pay more for United'.
"I think the Qataris got to about $5.75bn. We said to them, 'You're within 10%, why don't you get in a room and try to get to a deal'. But they said no. I think they were very conscious of criticism if they were seen to be overpaying.
"Ultimately we think they would have been good owners but we think the Glazers made the right decision not to take the lesser value, and go with Ratcliffe instead."
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