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Manchester United share price rises as club looks set to pocket £88m
The Glazer family is set to sell five per cent of Manchester United.
In news that will delight the suits in the Old Trafford boardrooms and be met with indifference in the stands, it was announced yesterday that the American owners of the Premier League club could raise up to $150m (£88.7m) by the sale of 8m shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
Opening at $14, the shares closed at a price of $19.31 on Wednesday, valuing the club at around $3.2bn. The decision has been taken two months on from the death of Malcolm Glazer, who led the 2005 takeover and whose six children are now in control.
And after a turbulent season under manager David Moyes confidence in United seems to be returning.
Moyes’ replacement, Louis van Gaal, is expected to restore the team as a dominant force next season while just under £60m has been spent on new players such as Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw.
Of more relevance to potential investors, however, is the fact that United have recently signed a decade-long kit sponsorship deal with Adidas that could be worth around £750m, and from this season onwards will receive around £47m a season from General Motors for sporting the Chevrolet logo on their shirt.
Overall the club generated an estimated £430m for the year to June 30.
The share sales will generate around £20m more than the income from player sales since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
Yet United fans excited by the prospect of a big windfall will be disappointed to learn that none of the money raised by the share sales will be put back into the club.
Instead the shares, listed as "MANU", will be used to create more liquid market for United stock after the company's flotation on the NYSE two years ago.
Although visible protests such as the green and gold scarves and the "Love United, Hate Glazer" banners have disappeared from United games in recent years, the Glazer family remain deeply unpopular among the fanbase at Old Trafford.