Billionaire's Man Utd takeover move ends years of speculation

Glazer deal: The deal that yesterday looked to have given US billionaire Malcolm Glazer control of Manchester United plc was finalised on Wednesday night.

John Magnier and JP McManus, the Irish racing magnates and businessmen behind the Virgin Islands-registered Cubic Expression, agreed to sell their 28.89 per cent holding in the company for £3 sterling (€4.40) a share.

The news brings to an end months if not years of speculation about the fate of the world's richest soccer club.

Despite Cubic's stated position that it was always an investor, fans and other shareholders had once suspected that it would buy the company. Later the debate settled on whether they would sell to Mr Glazer.

Mr Glazer's offer, made via his takeover vehicle, Red Football Ltd, is unconditional. This means that no matter what happens to his bid for the rest of the company's equity, the Irish duo will sell their shares to Mr Glazer and be paid.

The Glazer Family Partnership made a £3 a-share offer last autumn, but the Irishmen rebuffed this, as it was conditional first of all on his seeing the company's books, and subsequently getting control of it.

However, the "no strings attached" offer was presumably what they were looking for and accepted.

The deal will net them a profit in the region of €125 million on their holding of 75.7 million shares.

On the basis that the parties had not even met on Monday, the agreement looks to have been made comparatively quickly. However, the race to buy Manchester United has been more of a marathon than a sprint.

Cubic Expression began buying shares in the world's richest soccer club in 2001, but its backers made it clear in July of that year that they were simply investors for value.

In fact, there was never really a race for ownership at all until Mr Glazer, prompted by his two sons, Joel and Avi, swooped in March 2003 to buy 2.9 per cent of the business for the equivalent of €13 million at yesterday's exchange rate.

By October of that year, he had amassed 9.66 per cent of the company. Around the same time, Cubic bought British Sky Broadcasting's stake for €91 million, increasing its holding to over 23 per cent. Cubic subsequently increased its holding to 28.89 per cent, just below the point at which it would have to make a formal bid, and then stopped buying.

Mr Glazer continued and bought shares in February and June of last year, upping his stake to 19 per cent by last autumn. After the Irish duo turned him down last autumn, he went on a buying spree in October, raising his stake to 28.1 per cent.

By close of business last night, Mr Glazer controlled around 70 per cent of Manchester United plc.