Racing duo behind United raid

Two of Sir Alex Ferguson's closest racing associates last night invested almost £25million in Manchester United shares.

Irish entrepreneurs JP McManus and John Magnier became the second largest stake-holding group in the Old Trafford club when it was announced that they had increased their share-holding from

After weeks of speculation that a low share price made the club ripe for a takeover bid, the Geneva-based businessmen's Cubic Expression Company bought the biggest single chunk of United since BSkyB's failed attempt to buy the club in 1998.

BSkyB remains the biggest stake-holder with 9.99per cent.

With the names of blue chip companies such as Nike and AOL Time Warner already being touted as potential investors, City analysts and the club were taken by surprise when it was announced that the company which bought 9.8million shares was owned by two of Ferguson's racing friends.

Both are more than wealthy enough to 2.9 to 6.77 per cent. mount the coup with McManus rated as the 14th richest man in Ireland. The pair's fortunes had grown a little further by the close of trading last night when shares in United soared seven per cent to 172p on news of the investment.

Cubic's stake was worth more than £30m at the close of business and while a personal relationship exists between Sir Alex and the two men behind the investment, a spokesman for Cubic insisted that McManus and Magnier saw the deal as purely financial.

Rumours grew in the City last night that United were to become the subject of another takeover bid with a foreign media conglomerate mentioned as potential bidders.