An American financial group is reported to be in talks over a major investment in Manchester United — and has been told to butt out by Gary Neville.
Private equity firm Carlyle, which manages one of the largest mega-funds in the world, worth more than £300billion, is pitching to take a minority stake in the club.
But Neville, alongside a screenshot of the firm’s mission statement, tweeted: ‘No thank you! This doesn’t work for United! The Glazer PR machine keeps leaking this type of minority partnership out there bi-weekly whilst stressing it’s a confidential process. Full Sale Only.’
The Glazer family, the club’s owners, this week announced a third round of bidding, with offers to land before the end of the month, a move which prompted Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus to refuse to take part in any further bids.
That left Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, of Qatar, and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe as the only publicly interested parties.
But according to Sky News, Carlyle, the Nasdaq-listed giant, has been in ‘serious’ talks over an investment in Old Trafford for some time. Carlyle declined to comment.
Carlyle is a global investment firm, with headquarters in Washington DC, who have owned British companies including the RAC breakdown recovery service and Addison Lee, the taxi-hire group.
The Glazers bought United for £790m in 2005, and were thought to be seeking a sale for £6bn.