Manchester United have moved to quell speculation that the club is looking to raise imminently hundreds of millions of pounds by offloading a certain class of shares and other holdings in the club, stating that documents posted by United overnight are "technical filings" that allow for but do not indicate such action.
Two filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) raised some questions from media and fans alike about the the Glazers' ownership of the club moving forward, as well as the idea that a new share offering is on the horizon.
United currently have a little under 165,000,000 shares outstanding: these are split into 124,000,000 class B shares, all owned by the Glazer family and carrying almost all of the voting power at the club; and 40,570,967 class A shares, which are split between certain of the Glazers and thousands of other investors and individuals.
It is to these class A shares that the rumours pertain. The documents filed by the club stipulate: "The company [i.e Manchester United] may offer and sell up to $400,000,000 in the aggregate of Class A ordinary shares, debt securities, warrants, purchase contracts, and units."
Addressing investors at the club's annual conference call yesterday, chief financial officer Cliff Baty said: "In connection with our annual report, we'll be filing two documents relating to our existing shelf registration statement.
"These are technical filings that allow us to keep our shelf registration statement effective. The company's had a similar shelf registration statement in place since 2012. Please also note that these filings do not indicate that any shares are actually being sold."
As corporate finance specialist Investopedia explains, "Shelf registration is a method for publicly traded companies to register new stock offerings without having to issue them immediately.
"Instead, the securities can be issued at any time within a two-year period, allowing a company to adjust the timing of the sales to take advantage of more favourable market conditions should they arise."
