Club Sale | It’s done!

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RedDevilUnited369 said:
Manchester United’s snail-pace M&A saga may yet erupt into an all-out scrap. Hedge funds are laying the groundwork for a legal fight if the $3 billion soccer club’s controlling Glazer family tries to shut them out of any sale. The club’s relatively muted public-market valuation, compared with recent similar deals, suggests such takeover shenanigans are likely.

The Glazers, who took control of the northern English team in 2005, effectively put it up for sale last November, and are hoping for a valuation of at least 5 billion pounds ($6.3 billion), according to the BBC. Since then Qatari Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani has bid around that level, which likely includes Man Utd’s roughly $900 million of net debt. Yet a rival approach from English chemicals tycoon Jim Ratcliffe has investors in Man Utd’s New York-listed shares worried.

One hedge fund with a large stake in the club is making legal preparations in case Ratcliffe launches an offer that involves only buying the Glazers’ super-voting Class B shares, a person familiar with the matter told Breakingviews. Such an approach would effectively exclude minority investors from the takeover. A separate person familiar with the situation told Breakingviews that hedge funds were already studying past precedents under Cayman Islands law, where Man Utd is incorporated, to figure out how they might build a case against any manoeuvres by the Glazers or Ratcliffe.

Man Utd’s dual-class share structure is the concern. About two-thirds of the total equity comprises Class B shares, which carry 10 votes and are held by the Glazers, while the remaining third is made up of publicly listed Class A shares, which carry one vote and are held mostly by institutional investors. The Financial Times reported recently that Ratcliffe and the Glazers were considering a deal in which the billionaire would buy enough Class B shares to control the club but without making an offer for other investors. The Glazers could even seek to change the club’s articles of association to make sure Ratcliffe’s acquired shares retain their super-voting rights, according to the report.

The hedge funds have some grounds for their pushback. Manchester United’s 2012 initial public offering filing notesthat Cayman Islands law gives shareholders the right to challenge deals and to receive “fair value” for their shares as determined by a judge. The Cayman courts in October ruled in favour of minority shareholders in a take-private case that lawyers at Loeb Smith called a landmark decision.

But that assumes there’s actually a deal for Class A shareholders to vote against. This might not be the case if Ratcliffe simply takes control of the club through a bilateral transaction with the Glazers. Another risk is that Ratcliffe lacks the money to rebuild the club's ailing Old Trafford stadium, meaning he would have to lump more debt onto the club to fund the much-need project. And there’s no guarantee he would maintain the Glazers’ record of paying dividends, meaning the minority investors could end up with shares that are worth much less than they are now.

If anything, the Man Utd share price reflects this pessimism. Chelsea Football Club’s sale to a consortium led by U.S. billionaire Todd Boehly valued the West London side at 5.7 times trailing revenue. Man Utd is only trading at just over 5 times its sales from the last financial year. That suggests investors are pricing in a relatively high chance of a Glazer side deal, and a low chance of hedge funds successfully challenging it.
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Jesus christ, really scraping the barrel today :lol: What in the holy feck is Breakingviewsreuters :lol:
 
If it’s true the deadline has been discarded then that’s good news for Qatar.
If this legal case is true then at what point do the Glazers think it’s not worth the hassle?
 
I hate these rat-tail ugly bastards so much. Just take your undeserved billions Get the F out already!!!
 
Shame they can't just stick it up on ebay as a Buy it Now in Acceptable condition
 
Berbaclass said:
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Probably the reason why Qatar hasn't blown anyone off with an offer. They just don't need to. They matched the bid and a 100% take over and things go smooth.

SJR and Glazers Probably now looking for work around. Think, if they find a solution, SJ will up his offer again.

My 2 cents:)
 
bond19821982 said:
Means share holders can sue the Glazers? Probably the reason why this is delayed ? Advantage Qatar?
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Not sure about the merits of the shareholders, but those shares seem, otherwise, worthless if an INEOS type bid succeeds, ie only buying out the Glazers..

The Glazers have absolute control (2/3) of voting power.

Dividends are peanuts, if anything.

They only hold speculative value.

All things being equal, if INEOS take over then what value do these shares hold, . Why would you continue to hold them.
 
bond19821982 said:
Means share holders can sue the Glazers? Probably the reason why this is delayed ? Advantage Qatar?
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Don’t think so. Probably just a pumped up tag along clause which would honestly have absolutely zero impact on this process.
 
Castia said:
12 months people wanted Elon Musk as well…he’s done a terrible job at Nice and nobody not even his biggest supporters can defend that

Mind blowing that people want him anywhere near the club in all honesty he’s Glazer#2 and you can see it a mile away
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How did the Manchester City Group do at all the other clubs that they own?

Melbourne City? (100%)
Montevideo City Torque? (100%)
Troyes AC? (100%)
Lommel SK? (99%)
EC Bahia? (90%)
New York City? (80%)
Palermo? (80%)
Mumbai City? (65%)
Girona? (47%)
Sichuan Jiuniu? (29,7%)
Yokohama F. Marinos? (20%)

And what effect did that have on what they did at Manchester City? I don’t think what they do at one club really matters for other clubs, they are different clubs, as Nice is totally different in size, ambition and potential to Manchester United. They only own Nice since 2019, maybe a bit soon to judge there?

The Nice fans don’t seem that unhappy about what Ineos did in the last years:

https://theathletic.com/4427920/2023/04/20/jim-ratcliffe-nice-manchester-united/?amp=1
 
bond19821982 said:
Means share holders can sue the Glazers? Probably the reason why this is delayed ? Advantage Qatar?
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Had a feeling this might happen after a board meeting was called last Thursday and rumour was a vote of no confidence in Glazers Staying, again means very little as The Glazers hold voting B Shares however if they can prove that the bids were almost identical, then they the minority share holders, mostly hedge funds with deep pockets for lawyers probably being advised by Qatar(Yes they can play dirty Too Mr Radcliffe) can, under cayman law contest the buyout, this is bad news for SJR he may have to offer 100% now and I’m not sure he’s liquid enough to come up with £5.5-£6bn.


Most of these hedge funds are banking on a full buy out where after controlling shares are bought at $30-32 the Normal A shares could sore to $25
 
Tom Van Persie said:
Recent reports suggested his bid which is favoured was for around 51%. This new report from Harris suggests the Glazers are leaning towards a full sale.
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Yeah it’s 51. He seems to have tweeted just to tweet without having anything to say
 
Woziak said:
Had a feeling this might happen after a board meeting was called last Thursday and rumour was a vote of no confidence in Glazers Staying, again means very little as The Glazers hold voting B Shares however if they can prove that the bids were almost identical, then they the minority share holders, mostly hedge funds with deep pockets for lawyers probably being advised by Qatar(Yes they can play dirty Too Mr Radcliffe) can, under cayman law contest the buyout, this is bad news for SJR he may have to offer 100% now and I’m not sure he’s liquid enough to come up with £5.5-£6bn.


Most of these hedge funds are banking on a full buy out where after controlling shares are bought at $30-32 the Normal A shares could sore to $25
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Precisely. People are underestimating the hedge fund groups here. They have money and lawyers with them.
Quite sure there is a work around but explains why this is getting delayed. Glazers probably want to go with SJR but face legal issues and so thinking of solutions now.
 
Not even going to bother posting it but the latest Nick speed tweet is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. He's getting desperate.
 
I think Lindsell Train own quite a big lot of United’s shares. They’ve been quite critical of the Glazers in the past. Wonder if they might play hardball on this. I doubt the publicity would do Lindsell Train much harm.
 
mu4c_20le said:
The leveraged buyout was messy, and they got it done. Legal issues are the last thing I could imagine stopping the Glazers.
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There's much fewer legal issues involved in an LBO of a private company than a take private or majority sale of a public company. It'll get worked out one way or another, but apples to oranges to compare this situation to the LBO as it relates to shareholder rights and securities laws.
 
ATXRedDevil said:
There's much fewer legal issues involved in an LBO of a private company than a take private or majority sale of a public company. It'll get worked out one way or another, but apples to oranges to compare this situation to the LBO as it relates to shareholder rights and securities laws.
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One is a hostile takeover, the other is choosing how to sell the company they own/are in control of. I dunno, im no business expert but the possibility of the Glazers being held by the balls by their own shareholders seem a bit too good to be true for me

edit: I can only see that happening if the Qatar offer was significantly higher than the others to the point where it'd be unreasonable not to take it.
 
MDFC Manager said:
Surely they're already in the money? Greedy fecks want more perhaps
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I don’t think they’re massively in the money from United, and an investment fund will, of course, want more money (or to cash out/cut losses on a bad investment).
 
bond19821982 said:
Precisely. People are underestimating the hedge fund groups here. They have money and lawyers with them.
Quite sure there is a work around but explains why this is getting delayed. Glazers probably want to go with SJR but face legal issues and so thinking of solutions now.
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Lindsell Train LTD and Ariel LC own 17 million shares currently valued at $18 per share. Imagine after SJ takeover the shares go to $28 that’s $170m profit they could potentially lose in a depressed markets, they won’t win but they will send lawyers after the Glazers, this makes things messy in an already messy takeover process, have all 6 Glazers got the stomach for this, I’m not sure. It’s maybe more palatable for SJR to buy the 69% and show a process to taking the club private afterwards. The reality is that everything just stays the same as now 2 weeks into the future destroying ETH chance of improving the First Team Squad.
 
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