United thread 2012/13 (inc merged IPO thread)

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Re: United thread 2012/13.

Balti said:
Dirty Harry said:
Rammyblues said:
Edward Woodward, executive vice-chairman of Manchester United, stated this was the case in a letter to the SEC last week. But one major UK institutional investor challenged the claim of hardship and the wisdom of listing with such old accounts.

Fuck me ! They've brought 'The Equalizer' in, they must be in the shit.

what do you call a man with a plank on his head? edwood

what do you call a man with 3 planks on his head? edwood woodwood

Take the 'd's' from his name and hes Ewar woo woo.
 
Re: United thread 2012/13.

samharris said:
Balti said:
Dirty Harry said:
Fuck me ! They've brought 'The Equalizer' in, they must be in the shit.

what do you call a man with a plank on his head? edwood

what do you call a man with 3 planks on his head? edwood woodwood

Take the 'd's' from his name and hes Ewar woo woo.

Ewar woowar ;)
 
Re: United thread 2012/13.

Manchester United have failed with bid for Moussa Dembele. Fulham will sell if price is right

lololololololol.jpg
 
Re: United thread 2012/13.

You have got to love the Glazers really, asset stripping the rags, personal piggy bank. :-)


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manchester United's filing for an initial public offering of shares in the United States is shedding fresh light on the way its owners, the Glazer family, both borrowed from and bought debt in the English soccer club in recent years.
American entrepreneur Malcolm Glazer and his six children, who took control of the English soccer club in 2005 after a bitter takeover battle, have in the past been criticized by fans for saddling the club with too much debt, amid fears that it didn't have as much money as some rivals to compete to buy and retain top players.
Now the filing shows that the Glazer family was not only borrowing from the club - which describes itself as one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world - but that at least one son also bought the club's debt, earning a higher rate of return on that money than the family was paying on its borrowings.
"The historical dealings between family members of the company are something for investors to be aware of before they decide to invest in the IPO," said Thomas Conaghan, an attorney at McDermott Will & Emery, who represents companies in IPOs.
He said that such sweetheart related-person transactions -while legally permissible - may not be in the best interests of the club.
It was not clear why the Glazers borrowed from the club rather than from other family companies or banks in 2008 or what they used the funds for. The family has a diverse portfolio of interests, including U.S. shopping mall owner First Allied Corp and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an American football team in the NFL.
Other experts emphasized that the Glazers were well within their rights since they own the company and it was not publicly traded at the time of the transactions.
"It is important to realize that it is not uncommon for private companies to make loans to owners," said Campbell Harvey, a professor of international business at Duke University.
However, Manchester United is no ordinary private company. The club, founded in 1878, boasts a global fan base of 659 million, many of them following the sport with almost religious fervour. The disclosure may help reignite the debate that became extremely heated at the time when the Glazers first took control of the storied soccer club after a passionate drawn-out battle, which saw the family's patriarch Malcolm Glazer facing protests from Manchester United fans.
Manchester United spokesman Philip Townsend declined to comment on the IPO or the Glazer family's private affairs. The timing of the IPO is unclear.
Buccaneers' director of communications Jonathan Grella, who has spoken on the Glazer family's behalf in the past, could not be reached for comment. The public relations firm that the club has hired for the IPO in the United States, Sard Verbinnen & Co, and the lead underwriter for the IPO, investment bank Jefferies Group, both declined to comment.
DEALINGS WITH THE GLAZERS
At the height of the global financial crisis in December 2008, the six Glazer siblings - Avram, Joel, Bryan, Edward, Darcie and Kevin - got 10 million pounds ($15.5 million) in loans for at least five years from the club "for general personal purposes" - or about 1.67 million pounds each - and paid an interest rate of 5.5 percent, according to Manchester United's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
In November 2008, commercial banks on average charged an interest rate of 11.44 percent for a two-year personal loan, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Manchester United said in its filing that it believed "the terms of the loans were at least as favourable to us as compared to terms that we would have received in connection with a loan to an independent third party."
Then between October 2010 and January 2011, one of the sons, Kevin Glazer, members of his immediate family, and a Glazer family company bought $10.6 million of Manchester United senior secured notes in the open market that paid an interest rate of 8.375 percent. The notes "were acquired for general investment purposes," according to the SEC filing.
It was unclear precisely which other members of the family, apart from Kevin Glazer, were involved in that transaction, or what funds they used to make that investment.
In April 2012, Manchester United paid the Glazers a dividend of 10 million pounds, which was used to repay the loan it had made to the family.
To be sure, the Glazers injected 249.1 million pounds into the company in November 2010, which the company used to repay another expensive loan. Lower debt would tend to make the company more palatable for investors in an IPO.
The filing doesn't reveal how the Glazers funded that capital injection, whether from their own resources or through more borrowing. Moreover, that was after the family had levered up Manchester United in the first place, loading a soccer club that was once debt-free with huge amounts of borrowings to fund their 790-million-pound takeover in 2005.
Manchester United still has a debt pile of 423 million pounds, which it plans to reduce through proceeds of the proposed IPO. However, the cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet dropped to 25.6 million pounds at March 31 this year from 150.6 million pounds on June 30, 2011.
Soon after taking over the club in 2005, another son, Joel Glazer, told the club's television channel MUTV that his family wanted to develop Manchester United as "a great club."
"Judge us over the long haul. Don't judge us on a day or the last several months," Glazer said at the time.
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis, Paritosh Bansal and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Martin Howell and Jan Paschal)
 
Re: United thread 2012/13.

At the height of the global financial crisis in December 2008, the six Glazer siblings - Avram, Joel, Bryan, Edward, Darcie and Kevin - got 10 million pounds ($15.5 million) in loans for at least five years from the club "for general personal purposes" - or about 1.67 million pounds each - and paid an interest rate of 5.5 percent, according to Manchester United's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
In November 2008, commercial banks on average charged an interest rate of 11.44 percent for a two-year personal loan, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Manchester United said in its filing that it believed "the terms of the loans were at least as favourable to us as compared to terms that we would have received in connection with a loan to an independent third party."
Then between October 2010 and January 2011, one of the sons, Kevin Glazer, members of his immediate family, and a Glazer family company bought $10.6 million of Manchester United senior secured notes in the open market that paid an interest rate of 8.375 percent. The notes "were acquired for general investment purposes," according to the SEC filing.

So, they "borrowed" $15m @ 5.5% and then bought $10m scum shares that the rags had to pay them @8.375% interest on. I guess that means they got $5m free (without working it out) ;-)

Those Glazers, you just have to love them :D
 
Re: United thread 2012/13.

Email sent to the US Securities & Exchange Commission:

To: help@sec.gov

Manchester United Ltd IPO - misleading financial disclosures in filing document

Dear Sirs,

I was quite surprised to see that you have allowed this filing when the last audited accounts will be more than 12 months old if the offer goes public. I understand you usually require audited accounts to be more current that this but can grant an exception in exceptional cases and have done so in this case.

This has meant that the latest financial figures cover the nine months to March 31st 2012, with the appropriate comparative for the prior year. However I can see no specific mention or warning in the filing that the fourth quarter revenues for 2012 are likely to be materially lower than the corresponding period in the prior year. The reason for this is known to the company and is as a result of their elimination from the extremely lucrative UEFA Champions League competition after the initial group stages ending in December 2011. The financial distribution to the participating clubs is based on a quite complicated formula but relies on the extent of progression in that competition as well as the value of media rights in the club’s country. There is an interim distribution in December or January but the bulk of prize money can’t be paid until the competition ends in May and would therefore normally be recognised in the final quarter’s revenues.

This is the link to the UEFA document detailing the 2011 distribution: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/Finance/01/66/11/07/1661107_DOWNLOAD.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf</a>

In qualifying for the 2011 final, Manchester United received £53.2m (c$82.5m) from UEFA in total as well as receiving revenue from match-day sales from the group stages in the early part of the season and the knock-out stages between February & May. The revenue for the games in April & May, the two most lucrative, would have been somewhere around $20m alone. Their unexpected elimination in the 2011/12 season will have cost them about half the prize money, plus the loss of match-day ticket income. So their 4th quarter revenues will be at least $60m lower on a like-for-like basis. This excludes any loss of performance-related sponsorship. This will have a material impact on their full-year revenues, possibly by as much as 15%, yet I can see no specific mention of this in the document. This fact and the financial impact would certainly have been known by the club and its owners back in December 2011. Their elimination from the competition meant they went into the far less lucrative Europa League competition, revenues from which would have been much, much lower than those received from continued participation in the Champions League.

There is therefore a clear danger that potential investors who were not aware of this would extrapolate the 9 month figures for 2011/12 incorrectly. I therefore believe that
1. The timing of this filing was deliberately designed to understate or conceal this fact and mislead potential investors;
2. You have potentially exposed yourself to risk by allowing them exemption from providing more current audited figures because of this;
3. The SEC should question the club on the financial impact of their elimination from the UEFA Champions League and ensure that this has not resulted in a material omission;
4. If so, any offer should be delayed until audited figures for the year to 2012 are available and investors can make a decision based on complete information.

I am also surprised that Manchester United (Cayman) Ltd was allowed to file as an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act of 2012 when one of the subsidiaries (Manchester United (UK) Ltd previously Manchester United plc) had issued securities on the London Stock Exchange and were quoted on there between 1991 & 2005, when the current owners de-listed.

Yours sincerely,

Let's see what response (if any) I get.
 
Re: United thread 2012/13.

Prestwich_Blue said:
Email sent to the US Securities & Exchange Commission:

To: help@sec.gov

Manchester United Ltd IPO - misleading financial disclosures in filing document

Dear Sirs,

I was quite surprised to see that you have allowed this filing when the last audited accounts will be more than 12 months old if the offer goes public. I understand you usually require audited accounts to be more current that this but can grant an exception in exceptional cases and have done so in this case.

This has meant that the latest financial figures cover the nine months to March 31st 2012, with the appropriate comparative for the prior year. However I can see no specific mention or warning in the filing that the fourth quarter revenues for 2012 are likely to be materially lower than the corresponding period in the prior year. The reason for this is known to the company and is as a result of their elimination from the extremely lucrative UEFA Champions League competition after the initial group stages ending in December 2011. The financial distribution to the participating clubs is based on a quite complicated formula but relies on the extent of progression in that competition as well as the value of media rights in the club’s country. There is an interim distribution in December or January but the bulk of prize money can’t be paid until the competition ends in May and would therefore normally be recognised in the final quarter’s revenues.

This is the link to the UEFA document detailing the 2011 distribution: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/Finance/01/66/11/07/1661107_DOWNLOAD.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf</a>

In qualifying for the 2011 final, Manchester United received £53.2m (c$82.5m) from UEFA in total as well as receiving revenue from match-day sales from the group stages in the early part of the season and the knock-out stages between February & May. The revenue for the games in April & May, the two most lucrative, would have been somewhere around $20m alone. Their unexpected elimination in the 2011/12 season will have cost them about half the prize money, plus the loss of match-day ticket income. So their 4th quarter revenues will be at least $60m lower on a like-for-like basis. This excludes any loss of performance-related sponsorship. This will have a material impact on their full-year revenues, possibly by as much as 15%, yet I can see no specific mention of this in the document. This fact and the financial impact would certainly have been known by the club and its owners back in December 2011. Their elimination from the competition meant they went into the far less lucrative Europa League competition, revenues from which would have been much, much lower than those received from continued participation in the Champions League.

There is therefore a clear danger that potential investors who were not aware of this would extrapolate the 9 month figures for 2011/12 incorrectly. I therefore believe that
1. The timing of this filing was deliberately designed to understate or conceal this fact and mislead potential investors;
2. You have potentially exposed yourself to risk by allowing them exemption from providing more current audited figures because of this;
3. The SEC should question the club on the financial impact of their elimination from the UEFA Champions League and ensure that this has not resulted in a material omission;
4. If so, any offer should be delayed until audited figures for the year to 2012 are available and investors can make a decision based on complete information.

I am also surprised that Manchester United (Cayman) Ltd was allowed to file as an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act of 2012 when one of the subsidiaries (Manchester United (UK) Ltd previously Manchester United plc) had issued securities on the London Stock Exchange and were quoted on there between 1991 & 2005, when the current owners de-listed.

Yours sincerely,

Let's see what response (if any) I get.

Very good PB. I sincerely hope they at least acknowledge your correspondence and give some answers to the points you raised. I can see them squirming their way out of it but at least someone has tried to point out the lies involved in this IPO.
 
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