American Billionaire to buy Manchester Utd?

Does anyone have any views about this? Or about the general "corporate" nature of modern football?

I'm pretty sure he won't care ( ), but I'd prefer that rich foreigners without any interest in football didn't buy up our best clubs. At least Roman Abramovich (sp) of Chelsea goes to the games and takes an interest in the running of the club.

Oct 4 2004

Why does a 75 year-old Want to Buy a Soccer Club?
Updated 04 October 2004
There's only one Manchester United - does Glazer want to buy it?

The Glazer family business is a family business with an attitude.

A winning attitude.

Malcolm Glazer - head of the dynasty - took over the the family watch business at the age of 15 after his father died and grew it into a $1.5 billion company.

Malcolm, according to Forbes magazine - is now the 244 th. richest man in the U.S.A. - and Malcolm is busy buying blocks of shares in Manchester United - the richest soccer club in the world.

For NFL and MLB fans with little knowledge of the world's biggest spectator sport - Manchester United is an English Premier League soccer club which is also a global brand name with merchandising outlets stretching from Sweden to China to Singapore.

Man Utd. - the 'Red Devils' as they are affectionately called - match their merchandising prowess with on-field success.
They win Championships and turn in profits.

And making profits is something Malcolm Glazer likes to do.

In 1995 he bought the unsuccessful NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise for $192 million and together with his football-mad sons turned a no-hope outfit into 2003 Super Bowl winners.

Along the road he also cajoled (pressured some say) Hillsborough county into building a new and much-envied state of the art stadium as well as changing the Bucs uniform from a rotten orange color to a fan and TV-friendly pewter and red.

Bingo!

In eight short years the Glazer family tripled the value of their investment.

Today the Bucs are the 7th. most valuable NFL franchise - with an overall worth approaching $700 million.

But watches and football teams are not the only businesses the Glazers can turn around.

A major jewel in the family portfolio is Zapata Oil - a company started by ex-President Bush-the-elder - which Glazer bought and turned from an oil pumping company into a highly profitable fish oil producing conglomerate.

Timepieces, fish oil and the Buccanneers - surely enough for any 75 year-old business man?

What can Glazer want with an English soccer club?

Personal prestige?

Hardly.

To add a successful sporting outfit to his company collection?

Possibly.

To turn a profit on share dealing?

Probably.

London stock market analysts reckon it would cost around $1,400 million to buy Manchester United outright - and that kind of money might stretch the resources of men richer than Malcolm Glazer.

Currently the largest shareholders in MU are two Irish business associates John Magnier and JP McManus, who hold a 23.15% stake in the club. A Dutch businessman Jon de Mol, holds another significant block of shares amounting to 4.75% of the capital - and an investment company - Mountbarrow Investments holds 6.5%.

Magnier, McManus and Glazer have all been buying shares in recent months. A prelude to a takeover bid - or simply wheeling dealing share speculation?

Glazer now owns between 14 and 15% of the stock (19;17% updated 04 Oct.) - if Magnier and Mcmanus sold to him he would pass the 30% benchmark which would allow him to mount a full takeover bid.

Glazer has told representatives of Manchester United that he consider the shares 'a good buy' - but won't be drawn on his long-term motives.

Soccer is a cash flow business and banks and businessmen love strong cashflows.

But successful soccer teams require costly name players to maintain championship success and in business-speak - top players are highly-priced short term assets.

Easier to deal in shares than get bogged down in day-to-day management.

Perhaps that's how a 75 year-old billionaire thinks.

But for the moment - like a coach who won't reveal his starting line-up until just before kickoff - Malcolm is keeping the opposition guessing.

Feint or Play? Only time will tell.

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