Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been incredibly hands-on at the club since his INEOS company took over 27.7% of the club just over a year ago.
With years of financial mismanagement jeopardising the club’s finances, Ratcliffe has had to make some hard calls and controversial decisions to help the sustainability of the club.
Between his investment and cost-cutting measures, the INEOS owner has claimed to have saved the club from going bust by Christmas 2025 with recent moves to focus further on United.
Since the start of the year, INEOS have been withdrawing from a series of contracts with other clubs and other sports, such as their Performance Partner role with New Zealand Rugby, and brand sponsorship in Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium.
How, in the biggest move to highlight their focus at Old Trafford, INEOS have made steps to sell one of their other footballing clubs.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe moves to sell OGC Nice
As well as owning a share of Manchester United, INEOS also own OGC Nice in France and FC Lausanne-Sport in Switzerland.
However, Ratcliffe is now looking to sell the Ligue 1 side to fund further investments in Manchester United.
INEOS bought the French side back in 2019 for £85 million (€100 million), from the Chinese-American ownership group led by Chien Lee and Paul Conway.
Since taking charge, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s invested massively to the French club, inputting £184 million (€216 million) in shares which doesn’t take into account loans they may have made.
The Athletic has now revealed that the British entrepreneur has tasked New York-based investment bank Lazard with finding a potential buyer for the French side.
He’s looking for at a sale of the club for around the €250 million mark which would exchange to £213 million, meaning taking an overall loss of around £56 million.
However, there are complications to finding a buyer with issues around Ligue 1 and it’s broadcasting.
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The main issue in the way of selling OGC Nice
On Friday it as confirmed that the league’s deal with streaming platform DAZN had collapsed only a year into the four-year contract.
Therefore, the top French league doesn’t have a domestic TV deal for the coming season with clubs being told not to include revenue from media in their next budget projections.
This is obviously a massive factor for top football clubs being one of their main revenue streams, potentially putting investors off of the French league until a broadcasting deal is back in place.
