Share price rises in expectation of deal

Manchester United plc's share price closed 12.75 pence sterling (18.56 cent) up at £2.81 in London last night in the expectation that US businessman Mr Malcolm Glazer would offer around £3 a share for the stock.

This would value the company at just over €1.14 billion. This puts a price tag of just over €320 million on the Glazer Family Partnership's own holding of 28.11 per cent.

According to brokers' estimates, Mr Glazer spent around €236 million building up his holding. He spent €52 million of this last autumn when he bought close to 10 per cent of the company in two tranches.

His offer would value the 28.89 per cent owned by Mr John Magnier and Mr JP McManus at around €329 million. The Irishmen hold their stake in the world's richest soccer club through a company, Cubic Expression, which has been buying Manchester United shares since 2002.

While they built up their interest in the company through a series of purchases at different times, brokers calculated that an average of £1.85 sterling a share was spent on their total holding, amounting to a total of €200 million.

If the Glazer partnership were to succeed in buying the club, his offer would give them a profit of €129 million. However, they already rebuffed an approach from the US businessman last autumn.

Scottish mining millionaire Mr Harry Dobson holds a 6.5 per cent share through his company, Mountbarrow Investments. A £3 offer would value his holding at around €74 million.

Over 35,000 fans hold 16 per cent of the company. The Glazer offer values this at around €182 million. However, they have said that they will not accept any offer, no matter how generous, from Mr Glazer for their shares. One group, Shareholders United, says its would be possible to increase the fans' holding to 25 per cent.