US tycoon Malcolm Glazer has used British laws designed to deter animal rights activists to keep his home address secret during his takeover of Manchester United, a report said on Friday.
Glazer, who has taken control of the famous English Premiership club after buying more than 75 percent of its shares, has persuaded police to let him keep his address off a publicly-accessible registry of business information, the Financial Times said.
British companies -- Glazer has set one up, called Red Football, for the purposes of the bid -- must by law list the names and addresses of their directors at Companies House in London.
However, exceptions can be made, for example with firms conducting research on animals, whose directors could be the targets of animal rights extremists.
Such a move had been permitted for Glazer as a "precautionary measure", a source described as being "close" to Red Football told the paper.
Many Manchester United fans have registered their vehement disapproval at Glazer's takeover, saying he has no interest in the club and is saddling it with massive debts acquired to finance the buy-out.
When news of the imminent takeover was announced last week, protesters burned an effigy of Glazer outside Manchester United's Old Trafford Ground.
The location of Glazer's main homes, a pair of mansions in Palm Beach, Florida, is already well known to United fans, the Financial Times report said.
However, the billionaire is believed to be selling the properties, and the confidentiality order would prevent him having to reveal his new address, it added.