Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Manchester United's Singapore IPO to be two-tier -FT

LONDON: English Premier League soccer champions Manchester United's$1 billion initial public offering in Singapore will use a two-tier share structure, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper cited people with knowledge of the transaction as saying the ability to use a dual share structure was an important reason for the club's decision to switch the IPO from Hong Kong to Singapore.

A two-tier structure, in which some shares have more voting rights than others, will minimise the influence of outside shareholders over the U.S.-based owners, the Glazer family.

"There will be a dual share structure because that makes most sense for the business," said one of the sources quoted in the article.

"The club could not have done that in Hong Kong and it is an important reason why they chose Singapore. But it is not the main reason," the source said.

The decision comes ahead of the club's announcement of financial results on Thursday for the year to the end of June.

Manchester United were unavailable for immediate comment. ' Reuters

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