Man Utd ditching Asian flotation plans in favour of US

Manchester United, the world’s best supported soccer club, has ditched its plans for an Asian stock market flotation and is preparing to list in the US, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.

After first eyeing a Hong Kong IPO, the former English soccer champions had planned a $1bn (€798m) listing in Singapore in the second half of last year before putting plans on hold because of market turmoil.

United, English league champions a record 19 times, declined to comment on the report.

The club’s American proprietors, the Glazer family, are well known in the US as owners of American football team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as First Allied Corp, which owns and leases shopping centres.

However, they have faced opposition from United fans after taking over the club in 2005 in a leveraged buyout that left it saddled with hefty debt repayments. Adding to fans’ unease, United lost their Premier League title to local rivals Manchester City last month, a club bankrolled by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, one of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family.

As a result of its change of listing location, United is expected to make changes to its bookrunning syndicate for the deal. Credit Suisse, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley were originally mandated as bookrunners for the Singapore listing, but sources said this line-up might change.

Jefferies has also joined the deal, the sources said.

The banks on the deal did not comment.

A recent survey by Forbes rated United as the world’s most highly valued sports team. Unlike many English clubs, United are profitable, though their earnings were dented last season by their failure to win a trophy for the first time since 2005.

A study commissioned by the club showed its global fan base had doubled to 659m people between 2007 and 2012.

Underlining the club’s commercial appeal, it signed a sponsorship deal with General Motors, the world’s largest carmaker, last month.

United’s decision is particularly bad news for Singapore, where motor racing company Formula One delayed its planned $3bn IPO in June, sources told Reuters.

Bankers in Asia were sceptical about Manchester United’s IPO prospects in the US given volatile markets.