CNN
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British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s company INEOS has formally entered the bidding process to buy Premier League soccer club Manchester United, according to The Times on Wednesday.
This comes after United’s owners, the Glazer family, announced they were exploring new investment or the potential sale of the English Premier League side in November 2022.
“I can confirm that we have formally put ourselves into the process,” the spokesperson said without adding details.
Ratcliffe is a majority shareholder of chemical group INEOS which owns French side Nice, Swiss club Lausanne-Sport, the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team and has a partnership with the Mercedes F1 team.
Ratcliffe had previously expressed interest in buying the Red Devils in the summer.
In an email to CNN Sport in August, a spokesman for Ratcliffe confirmed his interest in the renowned Premier League club, saying: “We are simply confirming interest in the club if it is for sale.”
According to Forbes, Manchester United is worth $4.6 billion.
Controlled by the Glazer family, which also owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, United is one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world, but it hasn’t won the English Premier League since 2013.
In May, Ratcliffe made a last-minute bid to buy Chelsea FC before losing out to the Todd Boehly consortium.