Fresh blow to Man Utd bid

MALCOLM Glazer's £800m bid for Manchester United was dealt a damaging blow today when the club's board said it could not support his revised takeover proposal.

In a surprising new development, City regulator, the Takeover Panel, ordered the American sports tycoon to make a formal offer to shareholders by midday on 17 May or drop his interest in the Premiership club.

That prompted United to finally show their hand after weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations with Glazer's advisers.

Despite reworking the details of his proposed takeover, United's board remain deeply concerned about the amount of money Glazer would have to borrow to fund his 300p-a-share offer to buy the club.

Although they have not said they would definitely reject Glazer's offer, should it eventually become formal, they have made it clear today that they will not back it and that it is up to shareholders to decide.

Their statement said: 'The Board remains of the view that the assumptions in the Glazer business plan are aggressive.

'Furthermore the board believes that, notwithstanding the changes from the previous proposals, the proposed capital structure, taken as a whole, still contains more leverage than the board would consider prudent and that, as a consequence, there is likely to be significant financial strain on the business.

'The Board recognises, however, that the price of 300p per share is a fair one and may be attractive to some shareholders of Manchester United.

'Given the Board's concerns about the potential impact of the proposal on the company, the board has informed Glazer that it cannot provide a recommendation to shareholders to accept any offer made on the basis of the current proposal.

'Whilst recognising that the price under Glazer's proposal is fair, the board's unanimous view is that they could not support Glazer's proposal (were it to become a formal offer) as being in the best interests of the company.

'It is now for Glazer to determine whether it wishes to put an offer to shareholders. If an offer is made, the board will provide shareholders with its formal views on the offer. As stated on 11 February 2005, it is ultimately for shareholders to determine whether an offer will succeed.'

United forced the issue by asking the Takeover Panel to intervene. If Glazer does not bid by the new deadline, he will be prevented from bidding again for six months.

The Takeover Panel said in an earlier statement: 'Glazer must, by 12 noon, on Tuesday 17 May, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Manchester United or announce that it does not intend to make an offer for Manchester United.'