Manchester Utd owners lower price ahead of flotation

It appears the owners of football club Manchester United are in retreat over the price punters must pay when the stock goes on sale for the first time on Friday in New York.

The Glazer family had been targeting a price of between $16 and $20 per share for the flotation but after a few robust tackles from the US's hard nosed investment community, the price has been dropped to $14 per share.

The valuation for the club will still be around $2.3bn, which is higher than any rival, including the recently dominant Barcelona, although only about 10% of the total shareholding will be up for sale

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In its last financial results Man U's debts stood at $661m while Friday's flotation is expected to raise around $330m, of which only around half will be used to pay off lenders. This has angered fans, worried about the club's solvency and, more particularly, the club's ability to compete in the transfer market with its "noisy neighbours", Manchester City, a club munificently backed by Arab oil money.

Despite the share sale the Glazer family will retain an iron grip on the club because the new "A" shares will only have one tenth the voting power of their "B" shares.

BS