IRELAND'S SUNDAY BUSINESS POST - WILL HE STRIKE?
The waiting game continues for a formal takeover bid for Manchester United from US multimillionaire Malcolm Glazer and his sons, whose advisers have completed a due diligence of the company's books.
Meetings between United and Glazer's respective bankers, Cazenove and NM Rothschild, have yet to take place.
It is over seven weeks since the board of Manchester United gave permission to Glazer to conduct an examination of the company's accounts.
In the absence of a formal bid in the next few weeks, United could petition the takeover panel in London to force Glazer to ‘put up or shut up' and force him to either make a formal bid or to walk away from the company for a year.
In February, the board said it was "unlikely'‘ to recommend a bid by Glazer, even though the proposed offer of stg£800 million – 300p per share – was "fair'‘. A final decision would rest "ultimately'‘ with shareholders, led by Irish billionaires JP McManus and John Magnier, who own 29 per cent.
The board is sceptical of Glazer's offer, which would heavily load the balance sheet with debt. Glazer's business plans are believed to be highly optimistic, throwing debt repayments into question if things don't go right at the company.
Glazer almost certainly requires a recommendation from the board.
Over 90 per cent of hostile takeovers do not succeed. In any case, the likes of McManus and Magnier are unlikely to sell to Glazer if he does not have a recommendation from the board.
The owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team in Florida, Glazer's efforts have met with implacable opposition from the broad base of United's shareholders.
One lobby group, Shareholders United, has threatened the club and its sponsors with a boycott if Glazer succeeds in buying the company. It has described Glazer's latest attempt to sweeten a deal with preference shares (and less formal bank debt) as "debt in drag'‘.
THE SCOTSMAN - GLAZER REVISES PROPOSAL AS UNITED'S PROFITS DROP
Malcolm Glazer’s advisers at Rothschild are to hold talks with Cazenove this week to decide if there is any point in proceeding with a takeover bid for Manchester United.
After seven weeks looking at the club’s books, Glazer wants to initiate discussions with the board over his £800m proposal.
It is understood the deal is little changed from that put to the board on February 11, but Glazer has introduced several caveats designed to preserve the history of the club.
Despite the crash in half-year profits, Glazer’s bid team has not reduced the offer.
Glazer, who already has 28.8% of the club, has said he will only table an offer with the recommendation of the board.
Although the board has said it believes Glazer’s indicative 300p per share price to be "fair" it blasted the financial assumptions in Glazer’s business plan as being "aggressive" and warned that the structure of the deal would be "damaging" to the company if these assumptions were not met.
Even if the board can be won round, Glazer has said that he wants approval from 75% of the shareholders - which requires a thumbs-up from Irish horseracing tycoons JP McManus and John Magnier, who hold 29% of the shares.
Glazer’s advisers are concerned about the crash in half-year profits from £26.8m to £12.4m, but Glazer has not altered his view of the long-term value of the club.
No formal offer can be expected for at least 10 days.
THE INDEPENDENT - GLAZER COULD STILL PULL OUT
Malcolm Glazer's much anticipated formal bid for Manchester United might never actually happen, a source close to the proposed deal said yesterday.
While stressing that "a bid is still more likely than no bid", the source said there is now "a possibility" that the American businessman, 76, might concede that he will never gain ownership of the club and instead start looking for an exit strategy.
The admission represents the first occasion that there has been any flicker of doubt that Glazer will press ahead with his plans.
"Even if things go swimmingly well [with the ongoing work on the bid], it could be a good couple of weeks before there's definitive movement," the source said.
The best-case scenario for Glazer is a meeting between his and United's advisors late next week, and then a protracted debate with the United board to try to gain an official recommendation for a 300p-a-share offer.
The worst-case scenario is that the board maintains its anti-bid stance and demands such huge funding changes to Glazer's proposed £800m buy-out (which is heavily reliant on borrowing) that he either pulls out or risks rejection by shareholders. In either case, it is far from certain that United's major shareholders, John Magnier and J P McManus, will sell their 29 per cent stake. If they do not, Glazer's ambitions are futile anyway.
Glazer's son Joel, a figurehead in the bid, has been ill following a ruptured appendix, which has delayed the family's timetable. There is also a growing feeling that United's recent disappointing interim financial figures have damaged Glazer's ambitions.
The United board has been at pains to stress there is no huge untapped source of income available to the club, which is a main claim underpinning Glazer's business plan. United will also announce ticket price rises this weekend, which will also give them leverage to argue that Glazer has nothing new to offer to the business.