Club Sale | It’s done!

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tomaldinho1

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They do though. The club's been running large losses, debt levels have been increasing, interest rates are rising, and other macroeconomic indicators are not good.

The Glazers can't afford the status quo.
They definitely do. The business model they have in place is haemorrhaging money at a time when they desperately need to invest in infrastructure including Old Trafford and Carrington. Their business model is built on debt at a time when debt is becoming prohibitively expensive.
You're thinking of this like an investor who wants the club to do well though, their only interest is returns. I doubt they feel there is urgency to do anything to OT or Carrington. Glazer model has been for a decade(plus) to spend when we need CL qualification and then sit back. If that does become harder and harder to do, I mean 50% of the CL places will soon be basically guaranteed to state backed clubs, they will still make money they'll just allow the club to spend less and less of the money it generates in order to do so. That's the really frightening thing no one seems to talk about, people assume the Glazers want CL football and will sell if they can't get it but they don't, United can turn a profit and be an EL club, they will just start selling our best players, buying lesser players and paying smaller salaries. Swiss Ramble report last year had them, across their ownership tenure, taking £166m in dividends, £55m in Directors bonuses and then they also pay all their management fees (£23m) through the club - then you have the near £1b of debt/interest repayments all whilst their asset has grown to a ridiculous valuation. That's not including the absolute killing (I've seen figures saying £500m) they made in share sales of which not a penny came to the club. I think last year was the only year they have not taken dividends. They aren't giving up the club unless it's stupid money which makes me think we'll end up with a minority investment or Qatar just overpay massively.

Also, the situation is not that bleak for them. Covid + no CL was a big issue for us and effect was felt over multiple seasons, this year we should see record revenues (won a cup, got to a final, back in the CL, got our two biggest earners off the books) end of this year unless we have a real nightmare in the CL.
 

strandty

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Simon Stone talking takeover from 36:14. Says no one knows what the Glazers think and it’s up in the air. Also says that regardless of what happens with the bid, Qatar will more than likely be involved with a Prem club such as Spurs.
 

AaronRedDevil

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Simon Stone talking takeover from 36:14. Says no one knows what the Glazers think and it’s up in the air. Also says that regardless of what happens with the bid, Qatar will more than likely be involved with a Prem club such as Spurs.
Swear to feck, I'm going to be fuming if spurs get a new improved owner. I hate that team so much. (Personal reasons)
 

Moriarty

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1961 already? Eisenhower gave his farewell address warning the world about the 'military-industrial complex.' Jack Kennedy is inaugurated and in Europe, the DDR begins construction of the Berlin Wall.

A few months into the Kennedy presidency, a force of Cuban exiles lands at the Bay of Pigs in an attempted coup to overthrow Casto. After an initial success, the Cuban counterattack threw the invading force back and, without the promised air support, the invasion failed.

Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. In July 1961, Major Gagarin arrived in, of all places, Manchester where he visited an engineering plant. Thousands turned out to see him.
 

cyberman

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Simon Stone talking takeover from 36:14. Says no one knows what the Glazers think and it’s up in the air. Also says that regardless of what happens with the bid, Qatar will more than likely be involved with a Prem club such as Spurs.
Simon is just making stuff up now
 

Redjazz

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Also the siblings have been running down their shares in United.

By doing this they have managed to accumulate hundreds of millions of dollars.


May 2014: Malcolm Glazer dies. The family sells 12 million more shares at $17 for $200 million (£129 million). In December, Edward Glazer sells 3 million of his shares. Amid fan anger, the Glazers rule out selling Manchester United for at least five years.

August 2017: Through the holding company Red Football, the Glazers sell 4.3 million shares for $17 a share. They make $73 million (£58 million) from the sale.

March 2021: Avram Glazer, the co-chairman, sells 5 million Class A shares worth around $100 million (~£70 million).

October 2021: Avram’s brothers Kevin and Edward Glazer have sold 9.5 million shares at a price of $16.98 per share, netting a total of $161 million (£117 million).


from - https://www.sportico.com/feature/manchester-united-sale-glazer-family-timeline-1234723124/

So the strategy has been to sell shares and raise funds however now they, as a family, are down to about 69% of shares that they jointly own, so they can only really sell off another 2% in the absence of a major club sale.

Also some of the brothers have been more active sellers than others and therefore may be tapped out in the absence of the actual sale of the club.

In summary they have extracted as much from their shares as is possible and now only have the trump card of selling the controlling stake in United with little prospect of dividends, which compared to the massive sums obtained through shares sales are miniscule.
No such restriction exists.
They could sell all their remaining A shares and most of their B share and still retain control of the club. The transactions above involve A shares. The very last transaction involved the sell of B shares by one of the Glazers ( who had presumably ran out of A shares). Those shares converted to A shares on sale and thus were sold at a discount to their true value. The extra premium ( B share value less A share value) was essentially transferred to the remaining B shareholders, and that value can only be determined when control is ceded.
Selling B shares by this mechanism is bad for the selling Glazer and good for those remaining and is a possible source of conflict between those who want to sell and those who want to remain.
A full sale gives the B shareholders full value while a partial sale that doesn't involve equitable power sharing will not realize that value.

None of these considerations help the club which still needs an injection of cash. As of 31 March 2023, the club owes about 430m to other clubs (and banks) in relation to player transfers.
 

George The Best

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This has crossed my mind too
Well I can’t believe that Raine Group, Rothschild’s and all the other expensive advisors and lawyers are still beavering away on this. The process ended weeks ago. No doubt Raine, Rothschild’s et Al have given their recommendations ages ago and walked away. I can only assume there is a split in the board, and/or, family, and the Glazer’s are just bickering away at each other to try and resolve it. There has been no hint of any new bids or developments to the offers, so an internal dispute looks most likely to me.
 

Moriarty

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Maybe, but it’s very obvious that they want a PL team.

If they don’t get United, they’ll get one of our rivals
If that happens, can you imagine the uproar amongst United fans? If it turns out that the Glazers have been stringing everyone along for months, people will be after their blood.
 

putzmcgee123

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Or… and it’s just a thought… there is no news and the Glazers really are that incompetent.
I get why people think this. However, in my eyes, when that was the case previously, there were ample articles in the media to wind up the fans, suggesting both bidders are frustrated, in the dark, etc. Now, it's just absolute silence. Fans were kind of misled by the football journalists and unreasonable expectations for news flow were set. I am expecting the next news we get to effectively mark the conclusion of this process, one way or another. When that will be, who knows.
 

cyberman

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Maybe, but it’s very obvious that they want a PL team.

If they don’t get United, they’ll get one of our rivals
If they wanted a PL team I think they’d have bought one by now. United didn’t come up for sale just when they looked to England, they only bid for us because we are Man United.
 

gajender

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Simon Stone talking takeover from 36:14. Says no one knows what the Glazers think and it’s up in the air. Also says that regardless of what happens with the bid, Qatar will more than likely be involved with a Prem club such as Spurs.
Not at all likely , they would most probably go for a Club where initial Outlay isn't as High and develop it themselves West Ham would fit the bill better

Spurs is kind of middle of the road option Which would stil require hefty initial Outlay without the prestige and Reputation associated with United .
I think Qatari's are only going this big because it's United they won't do that for any Other Club .
 

tomaldinho1

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Simon Stone talking takeover from 36:14. Says no one knows what the Glazers think and it’s up in the air. Also says that regardless of what happens with the bid, Qatar will more than likely be involved with a Prem club such as Spurs.
Would be a very interesting dynamic for Qatar to target given the huge Jewish fan base, Stone just chatting rubbish. The obvious ones with a fanbase size and stadium that would allow for heavy spending are WHUM and Pool.
 

C'est Moi Cantona

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Stone is just waffling because he has nothing new to say.

Everyone is totally exhausted with the whole thing, even the journos have given up trying.
 

DOTA

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I assume he's just speculating rather than any suggestion he knows anything?

Spurs I'd care about less than some others. I don't think they're an important club whose history would be tarnished as with ourselves, Liverpool, Arsenal, even Everton.
 

putzmcgee123

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Stone is just waffling because he has nothing new to say.

Everyone is totally exhausted with the whole thing, even the journos have given up trying.
Yes, we have now reached a new tier of speculation from the football journos where they won't even put it in a written article. Before, it would be a written article with like 75% speculation and 25% info fed to them by a source. Now, it's podcast appearances with 0% info fed by a source and 100% speculation.
 

strandty

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He does make a good point that if Qatar do take over another club, it could be an expensive mistake for the Glazers. It adds another competitor to the top 4 race and if United fall too far behind and spend too long outside it, the value will drop and their valuation of £6bn becomes a pipe dream
 

LawCharltonBest

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He does make a good point that if Qatar do take over another club, it could be an expensive mistake for the Glazers. It adds another competitor to the top 4 race and if United fall too far behind and spend too long outside it, the value will drop and their valuation of £6bn becomes a pipe dream
A point I made back in January or so
 

Zora

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Stretford Paddock are just as bad as the United Stand and that plum Goldbridge these days. Daily clickbait videos for the naive youngsters to lose their collective minds over. OR they go with the headline “Mbappe to Utd?” and because there is a question mark, they can claim they’re just exploring the notion after they’ve just read a headline in the Daily Star. Money, money and fame - that’s all these talentless idiots are after. <rant over>

There's no news around at the moment because no-one knows what’s happening and they’ve all had to sign NDAs.

When it happens, it happens. I think a lot of our media’s noses are out of joint because they’re not being fed tidbits of information anymore.
 

greenoffpearson

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No such restriction exists.
They could sell all their remaining A shares and most of their B share and still retain control of the club. The transactions above involve A shares. The very last transaction involved the sell of B shares by one of the Glazers ( who had presumably ran out of A shares). Those shares converted to A shares on sale and thus were sold at a discount to their true value. The extra premium ( B share value less A share value) was essentially transferred to the remaining B shareholders, and that value can only be determined when control is ceded.
Selling B shares by this mechanism is bad for the selling Glazer and good for those remaining and is a possible source of conflict between those who want to sell and those who want to remain.
A full sale gives the B shareholders full value while a partial sale that doesn't involve equitable power sharing will not realize that value.

None of these considerations help the club which still needs an injection of cash. As of 31 March 2023, the club owes about 430m to other clubs (and banks) in relation to player transfers.
Good point.

No such restrictions exists but sensibly they must not go below their 67% stake.

As you say, the Glazer's premium lies in being able to offer, say Jassim or Sir Jim , all their B class shares and therefore control of the club. Jassim/Jim would then hold 67% of the shares and accordingly have control of the club.

If the Glazers starting eating into their 67% holding then they can not offer Jassim or Sir Jim control of the club. Let's say the Glazers had continued to sell and only then held 50% class B shares - then they could not offer a buyer instant control of the club by simply buying their stake. The buyers would have to go into the NSYE to purchase a sizeable stake from the market to take full control.

At the moment the Glazers hold power and they know that if they in the future hold a stake of less than 67% club then they can't offer instant takeover power to a buyer.

If you say that the value of the B shares will increase due to their scarcity, then why should Edward choose to sell now for a relatively small sum compared to the sum that Joel will command for holding only a handful of B shares in the future. They can not maximise their return per share if they all go it alone. Therefore the family pressure is to uniformally sell control as a unit. That way all members receive the maximum per share.
 
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Moriarty

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He does make a good point that if Qatar do take over another club, it could be an expensive mistake for the Glazers. It adds another competitor to the top 4 race and if United fall too far behind and spend too long outside it, the value will drop and their valuation of £6bn becomes a pipe dream
I still think they're harbouring hopes that the super league will get resurrected.
 

Fanta Stick

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Good point.

No such restrictions exists but sensibly they must not go below their 67% stake.

As you say, the Glazer's premium lies in being able to offer, say Jassim or Sir Jim , all their B class shares and therefore control of the club. Jassim/Jim would then hold 67% of the shares and accordingly have control of the club.

If the Glazers starting eating into their 67% holding then they can not offer Jassim or Sir Jim control of the club. Let's say the Glazers had continued to sell and only then held 50% class B shares - then they could not offer a buyer instant control of the club by simply buying their stake. The buyers would have to go into the NSYE to purchase a sizeable stake from the market to take full control.

At the moment the Glazers hold power and they know that if they in the future hold a stake of less than 67% club then they can't offer instant takeover power to a buyer.

If you say that the value of the B shares will increase due to their scarcity, then why should Edward choose to sell now for a relatively small sum compared to the sum that Joel will command for holding only a handful of B shares in the future. They can not maximise their return per share if they all go it alone. Therefore the family pressure is to uniformally sell control as a unit. That way all members receive the maximum per share.
Your username makes me nostalgic.

Jumpers for goalposts and all that.
 

ColvaleGoa

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So everyone including the likes of Rio are all frauds. Reuters and Bloomberg can be added to that list too. Everyone wants clicks.

That's what I have deducted after reading 1961 pages on Redcafe.
 

ForeverRed1

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The problem is, they didn't say they were going to sell. Quite the opposite really, their statements sounded like they were seeking investment more than anything, but once bids for the club came in then the whole thing grew arms and legs. Perhaps we've all jumped the gun and this was never what we thought it was.
Don’t say that :(
 

Threesus

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The problem is, they didn't say they were going to sell. Quite the opposite really, their statements sounded like they were seeking investment more than anything, but once bids for the club came in then the whole thing grew arms and legs. Perhaps we've all jumped the gun and this was never what we thought it was.
I mean, it is possible but if that was the case, SJ and SJR would have given up long ago, no? SJR certainly hasn’t been shy about giving interviews to the media during this time period.
 
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