Red revolution next?
AFP, London
With takeover fever gripping English football in the wake of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich's swoop on Chelsea, it is little surprise that predators have begun to eye the biggest prize of them all -- Manchester United. A series of names have been linked with the reigning Premiership champions, who apart from their success on the pitch have the added allure of being perhaps the best known -- and certainly the richest -- team on the planet. Late on Wednesday, the publicly-listed club issued a statement to London's stock exchange revealing that US tycoon Malcolm Glazer had doubled his stake in the club to 5.9 percent in less than a week, sparking rumours of a takeover bid. Last month, a series of media reports said another US businessman, billionaire Philip Anschutz, was poised to make a 500 million pound (715 million euro, 830 million dollar) offer for the club. Talk of a foreign takeover of United and other clubs, including Aston Villa, has swirled around the game ever since super-rich oil magnate Abramovich bought Chelsea over the summer. He has since taken the club back into private ownership, wiped out their heavy debts and bankrolled a 111-million-pound spending spree on players, of a sort never before seen in English football. Manchester United are considered a particularly attractive prize, especially for any tycoon who might want to acquire money as well as reflected glory from their sporting plaything. Last week the club announced a 22-percent rise in annual profits, including a very healthy free cashflow before dividend payments of 35 million pounds. "We believe it is this inherent cash generation which could make Manchester United attractive to a predator," Merrill Lynch analyst Andrew Burnett wrote in a report about the club's fortunes. However any potential buyer faces a huge obstacle -- football clubs are not like other businesses. While United's institutional investors would perhaps sell if the money was right, activists estimate that up to 20 percent of the club is owned by smaller shareholders who own stakes primarily because they are fans. The group Shareholders United, which represents around 5,000 of these small investors, says it is "opposed to any 100-percent takeover" of the club as this would deny fans a say in its running.
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