Confirmation that Manchester United has applied to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) before the end of 2011 means that ordinary supporters be able to own part of the club for the first time since 2005. The planned partial IPO was confirmed on Thursday when a preliminary application was made to SGX, reports Reuters:
English Premier League soccer champions Manchester United have filed a preliminary application with the Singapore Exchange for a planned listing, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said on Thursday.
The club, which sources have said hopes to raise as much as $1 billion from an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of the year, has appointed Credit Suisse as the global coordinator of the deal, the source said.
A second source said the owning Glazer family plan to use some of the funds raised from the offering to reduce the club’s huge debt pile, a burden which has made the Americans deeply unpopular with many fans.
The club is yet to comment on reports. Indeed, it is not yet known whether the IPO will be restricted solely to institutional investors or whether ordinary fans will be able to invest.
But if fans can access the flotation it presents a huge opportunity for supporter-ownership at Old Trafford. The question is, if the IPO is open to you, will you invest and own part of your club?
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Nope… as far as I’m concerned it’s money in the Glazers pocket, and I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire.
IF I was a stinking rich cunt… I’d offer them £1 billion flat, with the promise that the same time next week the offer would drop by £50mill, and another £50mill the week after that, and so on until they sell… then I’d make my offer public, and run a multi-million pound campaign, to inform the fans everywhere, of my intentions to run the club as non profit… just to run within its own means… to tell United fans to cancel there tickets, and not spend a cent on United stuff and generally drive the value of the club down, until the Glazers accept my offer.
On top of this, I’d also tell the Glazers that should they even contemplate offers from other parties, I’d spend whatever it takes to ruin the fuckers… I’d hire a small army of out of work Floridians, to release plagues of cockroaches, and let off stink bombs in all their shopping centres, and retirement homes… I’d buy a big fuck off boat and park it just off shore of their Florida mansion and bombard them with balloons filled with mouldy yogurt.
I would relentless pursue these fuckers all over the globe, making their every waking,(and even sleeping)moments a living nightmare…
And once they’d finally sold United to me, I’d throw the biggest fuckin party at OT, with booze, whores and fireworks for all…
Then I’d run Gill and any other cunt who was a Glazer lackey, out of Manchester… I’d give Ferguson the benefit of the doubt though… and just assume he was protecting the club… his tenure at United deserves that.
Then I’d set about running United the way it should be run… for the fans, who’ve made it the biggest, most profitable sporting club in the world…
That is all!
// Nope… as far as I’m concerned it’s money in the Glazers pocket, and I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire. //
Word.
^^^^ That’s why it’s a good thing that a fan doesn’t own a club.
The last time fans had shares in the club they were made to sell when Glaziers had enough shares to demand overall ownership.Never again. Was the worst thing the club ever did.
No, that’s why it’s a good thing that an idiot doesn’t own a club!
why does taggart deserve the benefit of the doubt and not gill
No, that’s not fair on idiots
But i’d rather an Alf, than an Asher
Dozer I’ll forgive, because he’s been around here long enough to know I was joking, and besides… he didn’t get insulting… but you… you pencil wanking, fuck head… what’s your excuse?
Are you one of those… “I study business” types, who reckons, “the Glazers are savvy businessmen, and they want to make money, so what’s good for the Glazers is good for United”?
If so, then you should stick to business, cause you know fuck all about being a fan.
Cause Ferguson has earned the right, with titles… Gill is easily replaceable…
no I dont study business, but I belive part from the debt, the Glazers have done little wrong, can you prove to me otherwise??
Yeah they have lost us approx £300 million in interest rates and fees. Anyone else?
I’d love to own shares in United, but would only buy if the entire club and its assets were being floated.
I will invest as much as I possibly can when the ipo happens
finally we agree on something lol
No. What a waste of money.
Really? How about the massive ticket price increases that have taken us from one of the cheaper Premier League clubs to one of the most expensive, the sacking of loyal staff who wore Green & Gold during the height of the campaign, the tiny amount of actual investment of their money in the club? If we’d won fuck all for the last 6 years, people would be up in arms about the Glazers. It’s only the fact that we have the best manager ever to do the job that we have been successful since the takeover. The IPO is purely for the Glazers to take more money out of United, maybe to pay off the PIK loan, not to contribute more. That is fucking pure rhetoric on their part and a cynical ploy to get people to part with their money. If you think otherwise, I’m sorry, but you’re an idiot.
tickets cost more at norwich, swansea, qpr, liverpool, arsenal, chelsea and fulham according to the bbc and under 16s get in for £10!! how is that massive ticket prices for the amount of trophies won and the players on show? and they sacked people who though they should fuck off, if you told your boss to fuck of you would get sacked! Fergie has been given £50 million this summer he spent about £18 million each for hargo, nani and ando in 2007, 30 million on berbatov, 15 million on vidic and evra, that is why he has won trophy after trophy (with his management ability) which was given to him by the glazers. Also the PIK loans have been paid off in November. You are the idiot m8, you are also narrow minded!
I said ticket price increases, not ticket prices. They sacked people for wearing green & gold scarves and/or badges, not for telling them to fuck off. There is a difference between the kind of acceptable gesture of protest you’d see from a member of staff in any establishment and blatant insubordination. The general consensus is that the PIK was paid off by yet another loan, seeing as the Glazers never revealed where they got the money to pay it off. There is still massive debt there regardless of where that money came from, and it will not be paid off any time soon.
Narrow minded? I think you need to look up the meaning of that before you aim it in my direction. M8
I do know what it means thanks. you are assuming that they paid it off with another loan, no facts. And they have risen the prices but so has every other club, quite a few more than united and any protest against your boss in any type of work would get u sacked or severely punished
From a fan view, if Must are running a campaign I will happily buy a share but this flotation looks likely to be for the benefit of the Glazers and not the fans as a whole. Shareholders United were burnt in the end, while the shareholding gave us as fans a voice, we were powerless to stop the Glazers.
From a Business point of view, I do not why anyone would throw good money after bad at what has been a consistently loss making organisation under the Glazer regime. The Glazers surprised a lot of us at how well they have grown the commercial side of the business, but revenues appear to be nearly maximised, ticket price rises can not be sustained for much longer and barring a break from the Group deal for Television rights that’s not going to see much growth.
The company is been ridiculously overvalued coming in at more then 20 times EBITDA, as a comparison Fenway bought Liverpool at 11.4 times EBITDA and this is only for a minority stake, the figures wouldn’t make much sense. Also while not to knowledgeable about the SGX’s rules, a minority float is going to require yet more Disclosure from the Glazer’s regarding the true state of the clubs finances, something that untill the bond prospectus last year they were completely unwilling to talk about.
For the benefit of AsherMufc, The PIK’S were paid by the Glazers most likely taking on personal debt, (I mean £250 million doesn’t appear out of thin air) and this represents a chance to reclaim money by selling equity in their most valuable asset. Net Debt in terms of Outstanding Bonds less Cash stands at 400 million. This debt obviously is longer term at a much lower interest rate but is still present.
ffs. Yeah, I am assuming that, along with pretty much everyone who has followed this clusterfuck from the beginning and has seen that they will not say where they got the funds to pay off that PIK loan. It’s ether another loan, or dodgy as fuck.
Look up how much United ticket prices have risen in the last 6 years compared to other clubs, then tell me I’m wrong. They were the only club to increase them in 2009-2010. They have increased by 55% since they took over. Tell me another club where that has happened and I’ll happily concede.
In most workplaces, a minor show of dissent would initially lead to a warning, not to being frogmarched off the premises by security.
the arsenal prices have risen higher than uniteds since the glazers took over, dont know exact figures but I agree with your first point but cant be 100% sure was my point
To be fair to Arsenal for once, they had a shiny new £500m stadium to worry about rather than manufactured debts…
yh but that doesnt change the point that they have risen prices higher than united
but thats due to investment in their stadium…not to facilitate debt in order to buy a club
AsherMUFC, read this. This man knows his stuff.
http://andersred.blogspot.com/2011/08/key-issues-surrounding-united-flotation.html?m=1
I will 2morrow dw, I did read some of it in a MUST email, who seem to think its a good thing as long as the glazers pay off united debt before thier own
I think we have no other choice but to buy them, if that’s the initial sale or after. If we don’t buy them someone else will. If we wanted to buy 30%, 51% or 100% they get paid. There is no getting around that! If we don’t buy them that someone else who buys the first 25.1% gets first dibs. If that happens, we’re in a worst position than ever. Glazers will have found their new buyer and we are completely fucked. If this is a test for the new buyer we have to make sure if anyone goes for that 25.1% mark, we get there first. The only way of ridding Glazer is getting 51% of the shares in Manchester United. There is no other viable option!
FFS Mate, you make it sound like we should be grateful… (“that is why he has won trophy after trophy (with his management ability) which was given to him by the glazers.”)
Who’s money do you think paid for that?
Not theirs… Uniteds… every fan who spends a penny on United, paid for that… and paid for the debt that they lumped on the club, and the financial handlers fees, and the millions taken out in wages and bonuses, for the family themselves…
The Glazers bought United with money borrowed at exhorbitant rates, against the wishes of nearly every fan… they said, “fuck you, this is a public company, and we don’t care what you think, we’re doing this”… then to pay for all this unneccessary, and unwanted borrowing, they raised the price of everything related to be a United fan… there is a word for what the Glazers are, and since you claim to be intelligent, I suggest you look up the word “parasite” in the dictionary, and explain to me how that definition DOESN’T apply here.
This is an open forum, for open minded debate… you are completely entitled to your opinion, no matter how retarded… but don’t start a “pedantic” argument here, about relative ticket prices, or what qualifies calling the Glazers, good owners or bad owners… besides looking stupid, you are completely missing the point.
The Glazers are parasitic cunts… leeches… everything that is wrong with society, is represented perfectly in their ownership of this club… THEY DO NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ANYTHING OR ANYONE… just their own selfish pursuit of more money than they need.
And YOU… want to debate their merrits?
Have a fuckin word with yourself!
Well said!
and I thought all I had to worry about was our men putting the round thing in the other men’s stringy bag…
totally agree!
I do think they were absoloute wankers to borrow against the value of the club and saddle united with debt, I also think no one person should own a football club and do with it what they please. Fan ownership is the only good option in my opinion and I marched against the Glazers when they took over because of the debt it would give united but if that gets paid off then I dont mind they staying for a few more years and they might decide to sell to the fans if this ipo is successful! However, if they use the ipo money for thier own purposes before paying off united debt I will have lost the final shred of tollarance for them and will hate them as much as you
I do not believe for a second you marched against the Glazers, surely if you had you would possess a decent understanding of what they have done to this club.
The glazers can rot in fuckin hell and I would’nt give them a penny. This flotation is all about makin them stinkin rich, bet Ferfie/Gill have been givin an incentive to back them in this . Dont ever forget the scumbag glazers would sell to the biggest cunt out there for the right price ( whoever is around ) saddle us with even worse owners and walk away laughin at the pathetic way so many Utd fans have have allowed them to get away with fuckin murder. Automatic Cup Scheme… obscene ticket increases and so it goes on. I have been a memeber of MUST for many years and if they DONT come out and condemn this I will walk away from them. They should be planning anti glazers campaigns especially in the far east so these Chinks know want the bastards are like !!!!
What a stupid article bet the most of the people on here are season ticket holders anyway , where does the money go for all the ticket revenue?In the gimps pockets.