Private equity giant Carlyle is bidding for a stake in Manchester United, report says
- Carlyle Group is in talks to buy a stake in Manchester United, according to Sky News.
- United's owners, the Glazer family, started trying to sell the soccer club late last year.
Private equity giant Carlyle is in talks to buy a minority stake in Manchester United, according to a Sky News report that cited people close to the situation.
The Nasdaq-listed group is "serious" in its interest in the UK soccer club but hasn't yet finalized the key details of its proposal, Sky's source said.
The Glazer family have been trying to sell United since late last year, igniting a bidding war between the UK's second-richest man and a member of the Qatari royal family.
They bought United in 2005 in a £790 million deal ($980 million) that was criticized at the time for loading the club up with debt.
Washington, DC-based Carlyle is the world's sixth-largest private equity firm having raised roughly $48 billion last year, according to data from Private Equity International.
In recent years it's invested in the clothing and skateboarding brand Supreme and Jagex, the UK-based video game developer behind Runescape.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's chemical manufacturing firm Ineos Group and Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani are also bidding for the UK's most-valuable football club.
Ratcliffe, who is the UK's second-wealthiest person with a net worth of $13.6 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, was born in Oldham, a town located seven miles from Manchester, and says he is a lifelong Manchester United fan.
Sheikh Jassim chairs the Qatari bank QIB, is the son of the country's former prime minister – and also says he's supported the team his whole life.
United has won the English title a record 20 times but haven't achieved Premier League glory since 2013, in which time the Glazers have become increasingly unpopular with fans.
The club's New York Stock Exchange-listed shares rose nearly 1% in Monday's premarket, trading at over $22 at last check.
Carlyle declined to comment.