The Qatar Investment Authority intends to submit an offer to buy Manchester United Football Club in the coming days.
According to Bloomberg, sources said that a Qatari consortium will make an initial offer to the club, which plays in the English Premier League, by the end of the week.
One of the sources said officials at the Qatar Investment Authority were helping with preparations for a bid, along with some local family businesses.
Shares in Manchester United were up 5.3% in early New York trading on Monday.
Manchester United have been the subject of increasing takeover speculation since the summer, when Bloomberg News reported that the Glazers were open to selling a stake in the club. So far, British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has only formally announced his interest and is working with Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on a potential bid.
The Qatar Sports Investments Company, a separate entity from the Qatar Investment Authority, owns the French club Paris Saint-Germain. Regulations issued by UEFA stipulate that teams with the same majority cannot compete in major tournaments in the region, including the Champions League.
It is not unheard of for two clubs under the same owner to play in the same European competition. FC Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig met each other in the Europa League in 2018 after showing a clear separation between the two teams, despite being part of the Red Bull GmbH group.
For his part, Adam Sommerfeld, a specialist in sports investment at Certus Capital, estimated that any offer for Manchester United must exceed 4 billion pounds ($ 4.8 billion) in order to succeed. This would make it one of the biggest deals ever involving a sports franchise.
