US sports tycoon, Mr Malcolm Glazer, sparked further speculation that he intended making a bid for Manchester United after it emerged yesterday that he had increased his stake in football's biggest club.
Manchester United plc, the club's London-listed owner, announced that Mr Glazer had increased his holding in the company to 25.22 million shares or 9.66 per cent, from 8.94 per cent.
It was not known last night if Cubic Expression, the Virgin Islands-registered vehicle owned by Irish bloodstock and racing figures, Mr John Magnier and Mr JP McManus, has added to its 23.15 per cent stake in the company.
Cubic Expression is Manchester United plc's largest shareholder. Under stock exchange rules, it can purchase up to 29.99 per cent of the company before it declares whether it intends to bid for the company.
Mr Glazer's stake was valued at just over £59 million sterling (€84.7 million) at close of business last night. The shares closed one penny up at 234 pence, having slipped slightly earlier in the day to 231.25 pence. That fall came immediately in the wake of Mr Glazer's announcement.
The US investor already owns American football's Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is known to be keen to invest in, or buy, other strong sports brands. He recently missed out on purchasing baseball team, LA Dodgers, from Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Two weeks ago, he increased his stake in Manchester United to 8.94 per cent from 5.9 per cent. The move came after Cubic Expression bought out BSkyB's 9.9 per cent to become its largest shareholder.
Despite Cubic Expression's large holding, one source said last night Mr Glazer could still be keen to launch a bid for the club. He argued that Mr Magnier and Mr McManus had taken the stake because they believed that the company was in play, and were not necessarily interested in buying it. "\ Glazer is still seen as the person most likely to bid for it," the source said.
There was nothing to indicate if Dutch television entrepreneur, Mr John De Mol, who created the Big Brother series, or Scottish mining millionaire, Mr Harry Dobson, had increased their stakes. Mr De Mol upped his holding to 4.1 per cent from 3.5 per cent last week, while Mr Dobson has around 6.5 per cent of the company.
It emerged at the weekend that Manchester United's newly-appointed chief executive, Mr David Gill, exercised an option last Thursday to subscribe for 400,000 shares in the plc for 159 pence a share. He sold 325,000 shares for 230p. The company said the sale was designed to cover the cost of taking the option and to pay the tax liability arising from the transaction.
