Glazer makes take over bid at United

[crowie]

US billionaire Malcolm Glazer has won control of Manchester United, the world's richest football club, after buying a large stake from the club's biggest shareholders, as well as another major stock holder.


Is there anything that can be done to stop Malcolm Glazer now?

Opponents of his takeover of the world's richest football club really have their hands tied.

He is now majority shareholder, with a near 62% holding, and has made a formal offer for the remaining shares.

Roy Kaitcer, a director of Brewin Dolphin, stockbrokers for Manchester United, has said those opposed to Mr Glazer can do little to stop him.

"Shareholders United (the supporters' group) have got a very small percentage of the shares and, in truth, once you've got over 50% you've got control, and when you've got to 75% and you can get things through the Extraordinary General Meetings and Annual General Meetings, then there's very little that they can do," he said.

How has this come about?

The American has just secured the 28.7% stake of Irish racing tycoons JP MacManus and John Magnier by paying £227.2m.

Red Football Ltd, acting on behalf of Mr Glazer, said the Irishmen had sold their stakes for 300p a share.

He later secured the shares of Scottish mining entrepreneur Harry Dobson to take his stake to 62%.


This makes the 76-year-old the largest shareholder in the club and he has now put forward a formal bid for the club, which values it at £790m.

Why is this such a surprise?

There had been a feeling that the Irish pair, who have always been the key to whether Mr Glazer could get hold of Manchester United, would not sell their stake.

Three months ago it was reported that they felt the £3-a-share offer undervalued the club.

Supporters have also been vocal in asking them not to sell their stake in Manchester United, and were confident their message had got through.

The Irish duo, who held a stake through their vehicle Cubic Expression, are thought to have made a £70m profit on their original investment.

What has the club's reaction been?

The move came two weeks after the Manchester United board said it would not recommend Mr Glazer's takeover proposals to investors because his business plan appeared "aggressive".

Mr Glazer had been given a 17 May deadline to submit a formal plan or withdraw his attempts to buy the team.

His first two proposals were rejected by the board, which said the package relied too heavily on borrowed money.

Manchester United issued a statement on Thursday noting Mr Glazer's announcement and said it was waiting for formal terms of the offer from him to be published.

It said: "A further announcement will be made once the board has reviewed that announcement."

Why have the club and fans been opposed to the takeover?

Manchester United has been a well-run club, which has invested in the Old Trafford Stadium and players without getting itself into debt.

Mr Glazer's bid involves borrowing large amounts of money to finance any takeover, although the levels have been cut from the amount of debt he carried in his initial approaches to the club last year.

There is a fear now that he will eventually gain such a large shareholding that he can collapse his debt onto the club.

When would that happen?

If he gets 75% plus one share, Manchester United could be delisted from the stock exchange and Mr Glazer could transfer his debt onto the club.

Mr Glazer is now 13% short of that 75% level of shares.

If he can get 90% plus one share, he can make a compulsory purchase and scoop up the other 10% of the club's shares.

Has Mr Glazer expressed any interest in soccer before?

He is the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team.

But the pursuit of Manchester United has reportedly been led by his two sons, Avi and Joel.

American sports journalists have said they are unaware of his previous love for soccer, with one, Sean Wheelock, saying: "I think he sees this as a way to make money from football".

What was the reaction in the world of investors?

Shares leapt up to near the £3 mark on news of Mr Glazer's offer and more than a hundred million of the club's shares were traded actively in London.

Analyst Sam Detta, of Inner Circle Sports, said he would be interested to see what business plan Mr Glazer had to generate more revenues at Manchester United, as the general feeling was that it was already a "very well-run club".

What happens next?

There will have to be a formal offer period set' during which shareholders will indicate whether they accept or reject the offer.

However, with the Cubic Expression stake in the bag, Mr Glazer has the majority shareholding whatever happens.

Fans' group Shareholders United will be campaigning to prevent him reaching the 75% stake, or if that is not possible, at least prevent him reaching 90%.

Institutional shareholders may, on the other hand, see the £3-a-share offer as attractive.

[Winrew]

Hope he tarmacs the bloody pitch and puts a car park on it.

Going to Old Trafford is like going to.....er,Alton Towers,or Blackpool or summat touristy ( is that a word ? )

They will still fill the stadium every other week,regardless who owns the place.
I do have a bit of sympathy for then ( just a little bit ) But they are a PLC and the writings been on the wall for a while,Murdoch was repelled at the last minute,i dont think they will be so lucky this time.

[daikoku]

Here's an interesting article from the Guardian about Glazer's background in American Sports, he already own's the Tampa Bay Bucaneers....

Winning ways of a Buccaneer

Tampa Bay fans now wonder if Malcolm Glazer might have to sell in order to buy

David Hannigan in New York
Friday May 13, 2005
The Guardian

On The Sports Animal, the local talk-radio station in Tampa Bay, the lead story yesterday morning remained the Devil Rays' controversial decision to relegate their best pitcher, Scott Brazelton, to the minor leagues to work on his game. Reaction to the news that Malcolm Glazer had become the major shareholder in Manchester United was distinctly underwhelming. Most people seemed to regard it as simply the Buccaneers' owner adding another stock to his already diverse portfolio.

"Not too many people here really care except in so far as how this might impact on the Bucs," said Matt Sammon, an executive producer at The Sports Animal. "The only concern is how spending that kind of money might affect the funding of the Bucs' operation. Perhaps he might even sell the club because there's no doubt he'd make a lot of money on that sale right now."
When Glazer took over the Buccaneers 10 years ago, they were a joke team in the NFL after 10 consecutive losing seasons. Yet he still had to pay $192m (around £100m at current rates), about $50m more than the market valuation. Transforming them into a Super Bowl-winning outfit - by bringing in better and more expensive coaches and players - worth more than four times his original investment was not easy, and the early years were pockmarked by controversy.

He sold the naming rights to the Bucs' old stadium for $2m to Houlihan's, a restaurant chain that the Glazers also happened to own. He then attempted to finance the construction of a new stadium by selling personal seat licences at $5,000 a pop to existing season-ticket holders. Although he was eventually forced to abandon the plan by a storm of criticism and a
supporters' rebellion, he may well see seat licences as a way to generate increased revenue at Old Trafford.

Glazer eventually got his new stadium in Tampa by threatening to move the franchise elsewhere unless local politicians agreed to use public money to help pay for it. Though the Buccaneers have endured consecutive losing seasons in the NFL, the club has also raised ticket prices at the end of each campaign.

Indeed, they announced both price increases on the Friday night before the Super Bowl, at a time when the entire American media focus was on that game, in a move described as "a cheap shot at fans" by the Tampa Tribune. It was the fifth time in seven years the Bucs had raised the cost of tickets.

For the forthcoming season, the cheapest ticket into Raymond James Stadium (naming rights went for $2.7m a year) is $29 and the most expensive $71. "When the Glazers came in here you could walk up to the stadium and buy a ticket on game day," said Jeff Fox, publisher of PewterReport, an unofficial Buccaneers weekly paper. "There's now a waiting list of over 100,000 for season tickets and we have one of the best stadiums in the world.

"As long as the team was winning, nobody cared about the prices but when we started losing again, prices became an issue. The Glazers are good businessmen and are entitled to a return on their investment."

Fox does not envisage the Glazers divesting themselves of the Buccaneers in order to concentrate on United, pointing out that they have just begun building a new state-of-the-art training facility in Tampa. The Buccaneer Palace will cost $30m to build but, in typical Glazer style, $12m of that will come from the public coffers.

"Glazer is not a penny-pincher and is actually an excellent owner when he and his sons leave the football decisions to the football people," said Sammon. "They ran into some problems down here when they got involved in the management issues of the team. As long as they just sign the cheques and stay out of the on-the-field matters, they are fine."

[keemanan]

Initially I was delighted at the manure fans discomfort but now I actually pity them.
They know they sold their souls in exchange for the incredible sucess they have enjoyed but selling to a man so obviously driven by making a proffit is scarey for the average manc fan.

He's no Abramovich and folk's quoting his sucess at Tampa Bay had better remember thatthey have a draft system over there to recruit players. Will he fork out the millions needed to replace keane and get another centre-half? Will he chuff!

All those 'real' fans are gonna be priced out of the race to be replaced by corperate tossers. It's RIP the Streford End and long live Salford Quay Bucaneers!!

[Winrew]

I think Tampa Bay have been pretty shit for the last two seasons. ( anyone detect a theme )

Crack going round that Fergie will walk after the FA final,anyone heard this ?

[GETT1NLOTS]

A spokesman for Mr Glazer said he now owns 74.81% of the club - just short of the 75% he needs to take it private.

From the BBC website.

When you sell your soul to the devil (becoming a PLC) you know the score. I feel for those fans that genuinely love Man Utd though.

[GETT1NLOTS]

Glazer launches a charm offensive.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/4545339.stm

[Winrew]

Does this guy really think anyone will actually believe him?"

Longden added: "Maybe it should not be a surprise given what has gone before, but the ignorance of the Glazers about ordinary Manchester United fans is truly astonishing."

He,s probably just visited Manchester rather than London thats why he aint met any Utd fans

[GETT1NLOTS]

Glazer now has his 75% of Man Utd.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4550141.stm

[all_funkt_up]

http://www.glazerfamilyfoundation.com/images/aboutus/MalcolmGlazer_L.jpg

dont see what Moan U fans have to worry about. He isnt going to buy them with the intention of ruining them, unless he's a closet scouser....

He seems like a thoroughly nice chap to me.

[all_funkt_up]

....d'oh! that insert picture thing never works for me... :think