Glazers consider Man Utd sell off options to raise £200m for Old Trafford expansion

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August 23 – Manchester United owners the Glazer family are considering selling a share of future TV income to raise £200 million.

The money would be used to fund the infrastructure work planned for their Old Trafford stadium, increasing capacity to 90,000, as well a renovation of the club’s training ground.

The Glazers have a number of options to raise the finance, including taking a loan secured against future income, or selling a minority stake in the club.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest person, let it be known last week that he would be interested in buying the club, though whether he would be interested in taking a small stake in unknown

The Glazers are in exclusive investment talks with Apollo Global Management over the sale of a minority stake, though it is what that stake looks like which is at issue.

One mooted option is for Manchester United to sell off a piece`of its broadcast business, including its TV channel.

Barcelona in recent weeks sold off 49% of its content creation arm, Barca Studios, to raise €200 million – 24.5% to Socios.com and 24.5% to Orpheus Media, a production entity run by Mediapro co-founder Jaume Roures.

Barca also sold a 10% of its domestic TV rights revenue over the next 25 years to US investment firm Sixth Street for €207.5 million.

“The market capitalisation of the club as per the current share price is around $2.5bn. It’s clear any stake sales would likely put a valuation closer to $6bn. Ultimately if any stake sale puts a higher than expected valuation on the club, this could be beneficial for the price of those shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange,” said Joshua Raymond, Director at financial brokerage XTB.

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