Sir Jim Ratcliffe completes purchase of Manchester United stake

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has completed his purchase of a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United (Simon Peach/PA)

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has completed a deal to purchase a 27.7 per cent stake in Manchester United which will grant his Ineos company control of football operations at the club.

The Ineos founder, chairman and chief executive has completed his acquisition of 25 per cent of the club’s Class B shares and 25 per cent of the club’s Class A shares.

The investment from Trawlers Ltd, a company wholly owned by Ratcliffe, received Premier League and Football Association approval last week and was officially confirmed on Tuesday night.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: “To become co-owner of Manchester United is a great honour and comes with great responsibility.

“This marks the completion of the transaction, but just the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football, with world-class facilities for our fans.

“Work to achieve those objectives will accelerate from today.”

Ratcliffe has agreed to pay US dollars 33 (£26) per share for a quarter of the Class A shares, as well as paying that price for 25 per cent of the Class B shares held by the Glazer family. Each Class B shares confers 10 times as many votes as a Class A share.

Further shares have been issued in return for the initial 200m US dollars (£158.5m) capital investment made by Ratcliffe upon completion of the deal. Ratcliffe will invest a further 100m US dollars (£79.2m) by December 31 and his ownership will then increase