Sir Jim Ratcliffe has transferred ownership of his shares in Manchester United to INEOS, bringing the football club in line with the rest of the sports investments in his petrochemicals company’s portfolio.
When Ratcliffe purchased his initial 25 per cent stake in United last Christmas Eve he did so through Trawlers, a company he solely owned based in the Isle of Man.
But a new filing to the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) reveals the 73-year-old on December 18 shifted those shares to INEOS, which is co-owned by Ratcliffe, Andy Currie and John Reece. The trio have collective voting and investment power of over the shares held by INEOS, the filing states.
At the same time Ratcliffe has followed through on his commitment to invest another $100million (£79m) into United, as laid out per his agreement with the Glazer family struck nearly a year ago.
Ratcliffe pledged to pump in $300m on top of his $1.3billion purchase price for a quarter of the club. He made a $200m capital injection in February and has now completed the transaction, via INEOS using “cash on hand”, according to the filing, before the December 31 deadline.
The $100m provided INEOS with 983,449 Class A shares — the type traded on the New York Stock Exchange and 2,046,853 Class B shares — the type with 10 times the voting power. It means Ratcliffe has in total paid $1,546,061,321 ($1.5billion) for his slice of United, nudging his share up from 27.7 per cent to 28.94 per cent.
Ratcliffe, now through INEOS, is the largest single investor in United, but the six Glazer siblings collectively own the majority of shares, at more than 40 per cent.
So, what does it mean?
It was always perhaps a quirk that Ratcliffe had bought his piece of United through a specially formed vehicle named after the famous Eric Cantona quote about seagulls following trawlers.
This move brings United under the same INEOS banner as the company’s various other sports investments, such as the Grenadiers cycling team and Britannia sailing crew.
In practice, Ratcliffe is still calling the shots. He owns 60 per cent of INEOS, with Currie and Reece the rest. Reece is already a director on United’s PLC board.
The change may make INEOS investing in United a smoother process, though.
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(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
