Manchester United reveal £40m takeover cost and exact Sir Jim Ratcliffe investment

Manchester United spent a further £30.3m on legal fees and other costs related to Sir Jim Ratcliffe's deal to buy 27.7% of the club, their latest accounts have revealed.

It was already known that United would be paying the fees associated with the £1.25bn deal for Ineos to acquire a minority stake in the club and the accounts for the first three months of the year have revealed further details, with costs associated both to Ratcliffe as the buyer and the Glazer family.

The financial results covering the final three months of 2023 showed that £9.6m had been spent so far on the deal, which was agreed in December but only fully ratified in February of this year. A further £30.3m has now been spent on the fees connected to the agreement, taking the total to £39.9m.

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But the minority takeover also included an investment of $300m of Ratcliffe's own money, giving the club a cash injection of £234m. So far, £156m of that has been spent, including helping to finance the £50m investment in the redevelopment of the club's Carrington training ground.

A large chunk of that capital has also been used to help reduce the club's revolving credit facility, which stood at £143m at March 31, 2024, down from just over £200m the previous year. United's latest financial results showed a net loss of £71.4m for the first three months of this year, up from £5.6m from the same quarter a year ago.

That is as a result of revenue dropping by 20% for the three-month period, with nine fewer games at Old Trafford a primary contributor, thanks to a lack of home cup draws and an early exit from European competition.

United's debt for the quarter remained $650m, which is unchanged from a year ago. A change in the exchange rate means the debt in GBP has dropped from £521.5m to £511.3m.