Still in the throes of World Cup fever? Well, now you have a chance to put your money where your mouth is as another 8 million shares of Manchester United will soon be available to buy on the New York Stock Exchange.
The sale is expected to raise $150 million (89 million U.K. pounds) for the Glazer family, who took control of the English soccer giant in 2005. Patriarch Malcolm Glazer died earlier this year, and the soccer club is run by his six children.
At the time of the announcement, shares of Manchester United (MANU) were trading for $19.31, according to the New York Daily News. The Glazers offered 10% of the business on the NYSE in 2012.
An interesting detail about the club’s recent uniform deal with Adidas (ADS) came out in the prospectus for potential investors: If the club fails to qualify for the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, the payment for the next year drops from $126.6 (75 million U.K. pounds) to $89 million (52.5 million U.K. pounds). If the club were to be relegated to the second tier of English football, the payments for any years out of the Premier League could be cut in half. If, though, Man United wins the Premier League, the Champions League or the FA Cup, the payment could jump by $7 million (4 million U.K. pounds.)
The latter is far more likely. Last year Manchester United failed to qualify for the Champions League for just the second time since the competition’s inception in 1992, and it hasn’t been outside of the top flight since the mid-70’s.
