Glazer plans revised United takeover bid Nils Pratley Wednesday February 2, 2005 The Guardian
Malcolm Glazer is understood to be trying to reduce the amount of debt in his planned bid for Manchester United to one-third of the value of the offer. The plan is designed to persuade, or force, United's directors to give him access to the club's sponsorship contracts and other detailed financial information. United's board blocked access last year, arguing that Glazer's first �800m proposal was so overburdened by debt that it would expose the club to unacceptable risks. Under the first proposal, debt represented about 70% of the value of the offer. It is understood that Glazer, advised by the investment bank NM Rothschild, now envisages a roughly even split between debt, equity (which mainly comprises Glazer's existing 28.1% stake) and a form of "preferred" or enhanced equity. Glazer and Rothschild are thought to be still at least a fortnight away from being able to present a firm proposal to the United board. The debt element, though, has already been arranged in principle. JP Morgan is understood to be willing to lend the required sum of �250m-�275m, even though the bank resigned as Glazer's adviser last November after the American ignored its advice not to vote three United directors off the board. As before, the loan would be subject to a satisfactory inspection of United's books. The preferred equity element will be the most controversial. Its precise nature is unclear, but it appears investors in these shares would be entitled to additional rights above conventional shareholders. If those rights are similar to lenders' rights, however, United's directors could argue the preferred shares could more properly be regarded as debt and that the proposal has hardly changed in terms of leverage. Equally, Rothschild and Glazer will be aware of that trap and knowthe new proposal has to be sufficiently different from the first. Yesterday Glazer's camp tried to dampen the current speculation by saying that no comments in the press attributed to "any member of the family or person associated with the family" had been authorised. The statement was partly encouraged by the Takeover Panel, the City's policer of deals. Rothschild's office in Manchester has received the expected hostile reaction from some United fans. There have been attempts to jam the office's email and telephone systems and pictures of Rothschild's Manchester directors were posted on several websites. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/5iY7fA/6WnJAA/Y3ZIAA/GtUolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Please use [email protected] for general discussion. To unsubscribe send a blank message (from the email account in question) to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Join as a full member of IMUSA today: http://www.imusa.org/join.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imusa/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
