23 August 2023 , 15:00
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The father of Manchester United bidder Sheikh Jassim is planning to sell two London properties worth a combined £370million.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani is looking to sell his triplex penthouse at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge for about £220m and a nearby property at Belgrave Square for about £150m, as first reported by Bloomberg.
The former Qatari prime minister, who is known as HBJ and in the last decade was described as “the man who bought London” also owns The Maybourne Hotel Group which includes Claridge’s, where the United owner Avram Glazer was recently pictured. HBJ has also helped the Qatari state’s purchase of Harrod’s, the Shard and to let properties in the Olympic Park.
In 2019 it was reported that HBJ sold the Sanderson and St Martins Lane hotels to Vivion, a Luxembourg-based real estate firm backed by the family of Israeli tycoon Amir Dayan, for an estimated £255m.
Sheikh Jassim is waiting to hear if his latest bid to buy the club from the Glazer family is successful. He is in a two-man race with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the head of petrochemical giant Ineos, but both parties are waiting to hear from US bank Raine Group as the process drags on.
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The Glazers announced they were exploring “strategic alternatives” last autumn and Sheikh Jassim formally entered the race to take over in February. He has made at least five different offers to Raine but there is a growing sense that the American owners might stay put until an offer exceeding their £6billion valuation arrives.
Sheikh Jassim’s camp have previously said they would not overpay for the club and his father, in a rare piece of public commentary, said in March that he had reservations about his son’s plan.
The penthouse at One Hyde Park is valued at £220m.He said: "I am not a football fan. I don’t like this investment. Maybe it will work well. But you know, some of my sons like this, they always discuss it with me. They’re pushing hard. This isn’t my specialty.
"Let me put it like this: I am an investor. If it will one day be a good investment, I will think about it. I will not look at it as something you do just as an advertisement.”
He was also against Qatar hosting last year's World Cup and claims to have relayed that to the Emir - the Gulf nation bid for the rights during his time as prime minister.