What you are talking about is shareholders have mechanisms against hostile takeovers. Anschutz can buy the team fair and square. If Anschultz bids higher than what the team is worth, I can't see why not. Who wouldn't want to make a profit? Different companies have different mechanisms against a hostile takeover, but if the board agrees to sell Anschultz the team at a price that makes them happy, there is nothing the shareholders can do. Afterall the board is elected by the shareholders.
Good point, basically he saw the success of the tour over the summer. the added exposure of Tim Howard on the team and realises hey if anyone is going to finally crack American is Manure.
However since its fans that are in the Shareholders Union the dollars and cents logic does not apply to them.
maybe, but Phil does not buy shares. he buys debt. debt is better than shares. debt comes with Power. how much debt is Man U in. I know tey have "deep pockets" but the publicly traded company is in debt. anyone know how much? if its a decent % of their toal value you know he can buy up alot of the team preddy damn cheep. this is how he bought up all those movie theatres.
With ManU's profits and MLS' offsetting losses it's a perfect tax match! Without profits to offset, MLS' tax losses are going to be wasted.
As of 7/31/02, over 75% of Manchester United Plc was owned by shareholders with 1,000 shares or less. These more than 27,000 shareholders will probably prove difficult to buy out if they are fans first, investors second.
The answer is no. ManU isn't a tourist attraction, like the Queen Mary or London Bridge, to be bought and moved. (Gunner fans are free to disagree.) ManU's value depends on its status and function in the EPL and Europe. It's value would depreciate in the US, where what it represents is, generally speaking, not appreciated by most people. Besides, can't have more than 3 FIs per MLS side. Right? Meanwhile, you can' t blame people for considering this a really, silly question.
he could very well begin a hostile takeover by purchasing as many shares as he could on the public exchange. I imagine that it would not be a hostile takeover!!! I also imagine that the most he oculd do is buy a controlling interest unless he gets a couple of the other major shareholders to sell him an interest at a premium of course.
This doesn't fit Uncle Phil's MO. As noted above, his approach has generally been to purchase the debt of troubled companies, then take them into bankruptcy court and convert it into ownership. If they pay off the debt, then he's made major cash (since he buys the debt at pennies on the dollar, but more than the prior debt holders could have expected under restructuring or liquidation), if they don't, then he has all their assets and generally a plan to make them profitable again. Is ManU really in that sort of position? No, most of their debts are current accruals of taxes, pensions, dividends, etc. You can't take over a company of that size using the standard Anschutz technique when it has only 18 million UKP in trade debts. They have substantial receivables, and that doesn't even start counting the player contracts that they hold (listed as intangible assets). This is a company whose revenues last year exceeded total equity stakes in the firm. They aren't going to change hands unless they want to. Check their financials yourself: http://ir.manutd.com/manutd/findata/reports/anrep02/ (note that ManU uses the net assets=equity presentation, since they use British GAAP, it's similar to some of what is now required for state and local governments under the new standards). If you want to see the accounts of a team that's in trouble, try Everton. http://www.evertonfc.com/theclub/index.php?page_id=403
Story ran in the local paper in Berlin this morning (he owns the hockey team here). Story asked if 'the owner of the Eisbaeren wants to get into professional football'. Guess they've never heard of MLS here.
It's true that's how he bought Regal, but it is absolutely not true that he "doesn't buy shares." He's done each, multiple times.
Does anyone remember how Rupert Murdoch almost ended up owning ManU? IIRC, the deal was finally stopped by the regulatory guys overseeing soccer/sports in England.