http://www.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=163259&cpid=8&title=United+play+down+takeover+links Says that there is a rumor that three foriegn billionaires want to buy Man Utd. There are supposed to be righer than Roman but are not "seriously interested" according to the article. 600 million pound bid (rumor) and they're not "interested"? Stay tuned - this could be shiite or it could be interesting...
Any accountants on here? who could explain the legalities of an individual trying to buy out the control of a PLC. The people at shareholders united seem to think that if they can group 10% of shares, any takeover could be thwarted. My enquiries suggest otherwise. Anyone clued up on business law?
Re: Any accountants on here? Not EU business law... ...but I think what they're referring to is the minimum amount of shares that must be owned by someone other than the primary shareholder to prevent the PLC from going private. I wonder how hostile shareholders Utd would be to a takeholder by a lifelong fan...
Re: Any accountants on here? Once you reach 95% of all shares owned, you can force the rest of the share holders to sell up. By holding 10%, Shareholders United will prevent any one party from taking over in the entirety. However, they cannot prevent the new shareholder getting his way as majority holder, but they can make their life awfully difficult. I think
Stuart Mathieson NOT HERE ROMAN MANCHESTER United fans are plotting a Red revolution to stop the club falling into the hands of a Chelsea-style tycoon. And supporters' trust Shareholders United is urging fans everywhere to stump up a tenner - and BUY a major voice in the running of the club. Speculation about an expected £600 million takeover bid has been rife since it was reported at the weekend that three foreign billionaires are ready to pounce. Investment banker Keith Harris claims he is prepared to broker a deal, and that there has been interest from mega-rich consortia from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Europe. Shareholders United reacted to the news with alarm and vowed to fight any takeover. "If they are dipping their feet in the water to test it we will bite their toes off," says Sean Bones, vice-chair of SU, who formed in the mid-90s and helped to head off the last big attempt to swallow up United, by Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch. SU feel they could mobilise enough Reds to thwart any takeover. Says Bones: "If someone wanted to come in and buy a majority shareholding in the club, that would be possible because we reckon there is a loose element of around 45 per cent of shares held by people who would be willing to sell. "But there are also, we reckon, between 15 and 20 per cent of shares held by hard-core United supporters, people who hold shares because they love the club. "When these billionaires want to come in, they want to buy the club lock, stock and barrel, and that means buying about 90 per cent of the club, to force the other ten per cent to sell. They would want to buy it whole and take it off the stock market, which would mean supporters have no say and no influence. "We are telling these magnates they won't be able to do it - by rallying everyone together we reckon we could push the price of buying United up to between £800 million and £1billion." Some United fans have been excited at the prospect of an Abramovich-style takeover - they feel it would give Sir Alex Ferguson unlimited funds to buy players, as has happened at Chelsea. But SU are sceptical. Said Bones: "These people promise they will buy any players you want - but what usually happens is that after a year or two the supporters end up paying for it when seat prices are increased to ridiculous levels. But SU don’t just want to fight off a take-over they dream of effecting a bloodless coup of their own, giving the fans a powerful voice on the board, and maybe, one day, taking over the club themselves. It’s not as crazy as it might sound, said Bones. Opinion polls reckon there are 53 million United fans worldwide. It is not unrealistic to think that a supporters’ trust like ourselves could attract one-fiftieth of that support if we did that we would have one million members. One man who doesn’t think it is a crazy idea is Sir Alex Ferguson, who has already offered his backing, saying: Groups like Shareholders United can only be good for the game. I’d urge United fans to get involved. SU are quite a way from their dream at present, with 3,000 members, but they are working to break down barriers. SU have worked to make it easy for United fans to buy a share in the club they can join instantly on the trust’s www.shareholdersunited.org website, or by picking up a form from Bones outside the ground. SU buy up shares from Brewin Dolphin stockbrokers, to pass on to ordinary United fans. "Every United supporter should make it their business to own at least one share in the club," said Bones. "Old Trafford is our home and it is our job to defend it when someone tries to take it away with bribes of money to be spent on new players."
Ahhh - the old Poison Pill strategy... How much is 181p in US$$$? That is the going cost of a share on Yahoo, I think.
Exchange rate quoted here was £1 = $1.55. Used to be able to get a lot of $ to the £. A real b***er if you want to go on holiday to the US.
so, when I see the quote as "181p", does that mean 181 pounds? I was questioning if 181p wasn't 181 pence but I have *zero* knowledge of the English banking system. 181 pounds per share seems awfully expensive though
That is Saint Phil. And if he does take over the team, that could be very good for US based fans. Here is a link http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=68181.html
Not quite sure how. It is still going to be hard to convince networks to show the game, and it aint going to be changed just to suit the time difference...
Uhhhh... wow. The world's most famous soccer club in the hands of an American? And one worth $5 billion at that.
"Look here, that's enough now! I own 60% of that network." "Ten thousand dollars! You've saved my network!" Just couldn't resist.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-unitedshares&prov=reuters&type=lgns Seems that the takeover bid rumor is subsiding more and more each day...
Looks like Glazer is the culprit. He's upped his stake again. He owned 5.9% of the club before Friday. This is very worrying for the supporters...
Any idea how much Glazer is actually worth? I wasn't under the impression that he's one of the megabillionaires...
I don't know if he has enough money to takeover the club, but he may have enough money to buy out enough people to become the largest single shareholder.
"The Irish duo just bought all of Rupert Murdock's shares. They now own 22% of the club." Any implications for this in watching Man Utd on TV?
Part of me is very pleased. Merdoch is evil and the less we have to do with him the better. Also, I seriously doubt if he will cut back United games on FSW since the popularity of the club hasn't dropped.