US billionaire Mr Malcolm Glazer is likely to remove a stumbling block from his offer to buy the Manchester United stake owned by Mr John Magnier and Mr JP McManus.
Mr Glazer has already offered the Irishmen £3 sterling (€4.30) a share for their 28.89 per cent of the club, as part of a €1 billion bid for it. But he made this conditional on his bid succeeding.
While no talks are underway between the parties, sources close to the deal yesterday said that Mr Glazer was prepared to drop the condition, and would instead pay them £3 for their shares after a seven-day due diligence of the business.
The sources claimed that this was the condition that prompted the Irish racing supremos to walk away from talks with Mr Glazer over the purchase of their shares, last month.
However, another source said it could not be taken for granted that the duo would sell once that barrier had been removed. "It's not just a matter of price or conditions or anything else. You can't assume that they will sell," the source said.
Mr Glazer already owns 28.1 per cent of the company. If he bought the shares held by Cubic Expression, the Irishmen's company, that would bring his holding to 57 per cent and give him effective control of the company.
Stock exchange rules would also oblige him to launch a bid for the outstanding shares, 16 per cent of which are held by fans who are stubbornly opposed to his taking over the club.
The US businessman opened talks with the Manchester United plc board last month. He has the backing of US bank JP Morgan which is prepared to loan him up to £500 million sterling to buy the club.
However, the board ended the talks two weeks ago and issued a statement saying that it could not recommend Mr Glazer's offer as it was not in the company's best interests because it would leave the business with a heavy debt burden.
After Mr Magnier and Mr McManus exited the talks with Mr Glazer, he embarked on a €65 million buying spree that saw him increase his stake in the company from 19.17 per cent to 28.11 per cent.
City of London sources made it clear yesterday that he was still in the hunt for the club.
Mr Glazer owns American football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is based in Florida. He said to be worth in the region of €900 million or $1.15 billion.
