Irish duo play down Man Utd buyout in stake hike

RACING tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus have played down speculation of a takeover bid for Manchester United, despite spending nearly €12 million yesterday, increasing their stake to 24.14%.

In a short statement Cubic Expression, the investment vehicle which holds their shares, said it had upped its shareholding in the club by 3.14m shares to 63m shares.

It is believed the pair bought up some of the 3% of the shares sold by fund manager Legal & General last week.

Takeover speculation has driven up the share price of Manchester United by 165% this year, valuing the club at €968m, making Cubic’s stake worth €233m.

If Mr Magnier and Mr McManus increase their stake to 29% they would be forced to make an outright bid for the club, under stock exchange regulations.

Last month, US billionaire Malcolm Glazer also raised his stake in the club to 14.31%. He has had talks with Man United’s chief executive David Gill and most commentators expect a bid to come from his family rather than Cubic.

United executives said last week they had not received any bid approaches from either shareholder.

United shares have been the subject frenzied buying this year with financier Dermot Desmond buying 1.5% of the club, while an associate of Mr Desmond controls 6.5% of it shares.

Another new shareholder is John de Mol, the man who created the Big Brother reality TV show, who owns 4.11%.

The latest purchase by Cubic comes as United manager Alex Ferguson agreed a €5.6m four-year deal to stay on at the club. Mr Ferguson is suing Mr Magnier in the High Court over the rights to stud fees from the racehorse Rock of Gibraltar.

Mr Ferguson claims he is entitled to 50% of the money generated from stud fees, which could be worth as much as €100m.

Mr Magnier is defending the claim and has even hired a top firm of private detectives to probe the manager’s past.

Cubic made no comment on its latest purchase.