Manchester United drops Asia IPO for U.S.

[Confuseous]

Tthe issuer is understood to have become frustrated with long delays in approval from the SGX, even after it had indicated it would have no problems with a dual-class share issue.

A U.S. listing might earn the company a better valuation as a media business, since it has contracts for broadcasting rights as well as its own television channel.

However, it is unlikely to achieve the original goal of putting shares in the hands of a wide base of United fans. A source said the original aim of the Singapore listing was to create "a pan-regional platform for retail investors".

Singapore had seemed the ideal location, as it provided a way to reach retail investors in one of its biggest fan bases, Indonesia. When the Singapore listing was still under consideration, the importance of Asia to the company, with much of its growth coming from Asian merchandise sales, had been heavily emphasized during marketing to investors.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012...E85C0MO20120613?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

It's interesting to observe how blatantly this has been buried under the carpet by the Singapore Media, Mediacorp and SPH.
I remember when the Straits Times were making such a Hoo Har about a big IPO happening in Asia and how this "fantastic opportunity" would be a boost for the profile of the SGX and the Man United franchise in Asia.

Looks like NY is now the place.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18699885

 

[maxxi]

Not the first time.

Whole world says Singaporeans are gullible.They always talk themselves up due to no confidence.

Mark my words the F1 IPO going west too.[they came got wine and dined heard the pitch then f88K off]

 

[Cestbon]

Very funny IPO for MU.
Will never made any money. The team too expensive to maintain. Most IPO money will end up to pay salary.
If team really made money no need for IPO.,
Sport team is just like raising a horse for a race.
Even the horse win most money will end up for the maintenance,training..............
The owner get the cup and name if the horse win in race.

 

[Fishypie]

Too much red tapes in SGX ?...

 

[shOUTloud]

Please lah. Want to raise 1billion from Asia but NY only 100m. Looks like SGX did the right thing to kick these vultures from our shores. Football clubs where got make money.

 

[Black Swan]

Too much red tapes in SGX ?...

Looking at all the shitty so called S-chips, there is actually zero red-tapes within SGX.

 

[Cestbon]

Please lah. Want to raise 1billion from Asia but NY only 100m. Looks like SGX did the right thing to kick these vultures from our shores. Football clubs where got make money.

Agree. Sport will never make money. If make money why need sponsor?
Sport only for image.
Just like a horse win a trophy. Will not make much money after deduct all the expenses. If lose even worst no even one cent recover.

 

[ballsathome]

It's interesting to observe how blatantly this has been buried under the carpet by the Singapore Media, Mediacorp and SPH.
I remember when the Straits Times were making such a Hoo Har about a big IPO happening in Asia and how this "fantastic opportunity" would be a boost for the profile of the SGX and the Man United franchise in Asia.

Looks like NY is now the place.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18699885

"Dey! Don't u know that Toa Payoh Brothel has many Man U fans? Very biased reporting.
You will hardly find bad news about Man U but if other clubs slip up the news will be BIG BIG like my Venky."
​

 

[tua lam pah]

which idiot will put his hard earned money on a football club needs his DNA examined
the next big financial scandal is the money owed to the banks by these football clubs.... stay tuned

 

[larue]

which idiot will put his hard earned money on a football club needs his DNA examined
the next big financial scandal is the money owed to the banks by these football clubs.... stay tuned

People who support them of course. Then again what kind of idiot would do something as stupid and pointless as supporting a football club in the first place?

 

[Fishypie]

Agree. Sport will never make money. If make money why need sponsor?
Sport only for image.
Just like a horse win a trophy. Will not make much money after deduct all the expenses. If lose even worst no even one cent recover.

i choose to disagree.Those days of Sports for image are Long gone.Sports is aLL about BIg $ now.Any sporting
events without sponsorships is Like a ship without a saiL..

 

[Lewandowski]

Finally, the veil is lifted on Manchester United's £423m debt

By IAN LADYMAN PUBLISHED: 22:04 GMT, 4 July 2012 | UPDATED: 07:31 GMT, 5 July 2012


When the admission finally came, it came via email at about 10 o’clock on Tuesday evening.

Entitled ‘Manchester United Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering of Class A Ordinary Shares’, it was the type of dry announcement that would normally send rank-and-file football supporters to sleep.

Those who follow United, though, have grown used to seeing past the headlines and the jargon. It wouldn’t, therefore, have taken them long to find the paragraph that mattered, the one that finally gave up the truth after years of Glazer denials and diversions.

Proud history: United risk being crippled by debts of over £423m

‘Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health and competitive position,’ it said. ‘As of March 31, 2012, we have had total indebtedness of £423.3million.’

It stands to reason that a football club should struggle in the transfer market when saddled with enormous debts. Under the Glazer family’s ownership, though, smoke and mirrors have always been in evidence. No longer.

Seven years after taking the club into private ownership, the Glazers have given up the fight to keep their spiralling debts under control. By filing to list the club on the New York Stock Exchange, they have effectively admitted that only the share-buying public can save them.

Many times in recent months and years we have listened to Ferguson - the club’s over-achieving manager - say he is comfortable with United’s financial position. David Gill - the club’s uncommunicative chief executive - tends to say the same on the few occasions he says anything at all.Now, though, this has officially been declared bunkum and the message is simple: raise some money or raise the white flag.

Caving in: The Glazers have floated Man United on the New York Stock Exchange

News on Thursday that United plan to go head-to-head with Manchester City for the services of Arsenal’s Robin van Persie should not confuse anyone. It is unrelated to the shift in their financial position. As their brief flirtation with Wesley Sneijder showed last summer, United have had some money put away for one big signing for some time.

Whether they can really compete with City for Van Persie - who will request wages in excess of £200,000 a week - remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, the Glazers’ new plans are not expected to open the way for a period of sustained investment in premium talent. For the foreseeable future at least, it will merely enable them to muddle along. At first glance, the plan to raise £64m doesn’t seem to amount to much. Not when the debt is so vast and when an initial plan to float in Singapore - scrapped because of ‘uncertain market conditions’ - had planned to raise several hundred millions.

Hot pursuit: United are ready to rival neighbours Man City for Van Persie's signing

Industry experts suggest, however, that this figure is just a ‘placeholder’, a cautious estimate that enables the Glazers to file for the listing. The actual amount raised is likely to be much greater.

Certainly, United supporters will hope so. Anything that begins to chip away at the club’s mountainous debt can only improve their prospects on the field.

How United have come to this, though, is something that Ferguson, Gill and even the Glazers themselves - as obstinate as the family are - must sometimes find hard to fathom.This, remember, is a club that prides itself and indeed sells itself on the back of its glory, its history and its tradition. Outside Old Trafford there are statues of Busby, Best, Law and Charlton. What damage is the club’s current financial situation doing to their legacy?

Ferguson, of course, has more than done his bit to ensure United keep moving forward. Nine major trophies during the Glazer years represents an astonishing haul at a time when even some of the more modest Barclays Premier League clubs have outspent the one that calls itself the biggest in the world.

Great Scot: Ferguson insists he is comfortable with the club's financial position

The modern United, though, is becoming unrecognisable. It used to be run from Stretford. From this point on it will be registered to a new company ‘Manchester United Ltd’ based in the Cayman Islands.

United will have to live with the predictable jokes that will accompany their move to a well-known tax haven. Nevertheless, the Glazers’ decision to take their club back into public ownership will bring with it a legal obligation for financial transparency that may yet cause them discomfort in the future.

Theirs, after all, is a football club that used to be totally self-financing, a club that turns over the type of money every one of their domestic rivals can only dream of, a club that has been listed by Forbes as the world’s richest for eight successive years.

Yet this is also a club that - if and when the debt is cleared - will have lost more than £1billion to the Glazers’ highly leveraged take-over of 2005.

It’s rather frightening to think where United might be now had even a fraction of that money been spent on Ferguson’s team.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4Tz4TQQitaA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>​

 

[Cruxx]

Anyone who invests in football clubs hoping to make a profit is a goondu.

 

[po2wq]

It's interesting to observe how blatantly this has been buried under the carpet by the Singapore Media, Mediacorp and SPH.
I remember when the Straits Times were making such a Hoo Har about a big IPO happening in Asia and how this "fantastic opportunity" would be a boost for the profile of the SGX and the Man United franchise in Asia ...

dey saw fb ipo n realised got so many goondus in usa ...

dat 154th shud boast dat sinkies r smart enuff 2 b not conned n finally manu realised n go n look 4 fools elsewhere ...

 

[Unrepented]

........................... How many prc companies listed in sgx and kaput Maybe got alot of red tape...........and they are just that..........red tape.

Too much red tapes in SGX ?...

 

[Cestbon]

Anyone who invests in football clubs hoping to make a profit is a goondu.

Singapore pool, Tiger beer many small sponsor for SL.
We all can see the outcome. Ang Moh stupid will buy the sport team share.