(London) Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus, who entered the race to buy Manchester United football club last week, assured Thursday that “all outcomes are possible” in this process, during an interview with the English site inews.
While the president of the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, and the British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe had submitted a first offer in mid-February, Zilliacus was grafted in extremis in the second round , which ended at the end of last week.
“I saw that the deadline (to submit a bid) was Wednesday […] I called the bank (Raine investment, who leads the process), I told them that I wanted to participate (… but) they discussed it internally and they came back to us and said ‘OK,'” he told inews.
Although a last-minute guest, the 69-year-old Finn, residing in Singapore and unknown to the general public, even in his country, believes in his chances.
“All options are on the table […] All outcomes are possible,” he said.
He also claimed to be able to raise 5 billion pounds ($8.4 billion), the amount of rival offers, according to the press, while the American owners, the Glazer family, hope for 6 billion pounds ($19 billion). ), which would be a world record for the acquisition of a sports club.
“I’ve been in business all my life…I have a network all over the world of people who are willing to participate in great investments and this is definitely one of them,” he explained.
“Gathering such funding for something like this — and it’s a big sum — is something I’m used to,” continued the businessman, who claims to have built his fortune in the tech industry by Asia after having been one of Nokia’s senior executives.
The Glazers, whose family clan is divided on the sale of the club, have not yet reacted publicly.
In addition to takeover offers, offers for minority stakes or club financing assistance have been made.
The Glazers had warned from the start of the process in November that it could very well not lead to a transaction.
