Manchester United have filed a listing application at the Singapore stock exchange. They are expected to offer 30 per cent of the company for sale and hope to raise £600m. The listing is expected to take four to twelve weeks to complete.
Although some of the proceeds would be used to pay down the club’s £515m debt, it may also lead to additonal money being made available in the January transfer window. The club will not, however, compromise a pay structure that ensures that wages account for less than 50 per cent of turnover.
Manchester United have filed a listing application at the Singapore stock exchange. They are expected to offer 30 per cent of the company for sale and hope to raise £600m. The listing is expected to take four to twelve weeks to complete.
Although some of the proceeds would be used to pay down the club’s £515m debt, it may also lead to additonal money being made available in the January transfer window. The club will not, however, compromise a pay structure that ensures that wages account for less than 50 per cent of turnover.
The choice of Singapore was probably influenced bu Hong Kong’s regulatory system which is more like that of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US. It asks substantive questions of the company, whereas Singapore is more light touch with the regulator commenting on the filed document. The club may well have decided that Hong Kong was more expensive and arduous than Singapore.
However, whereas the filing is private in Hong Kong it is public in Singapore and the document should make for interesting reading. Hopes that individual fans may be able to buy shares through the listing may, however, not be realised.