MUST response to planned Manchester United IPO in New York

[TanyaT]

In response to reports that the Glazers are to revive their failed attempt
at a partial flotation of Manchester United - this time on the New York
Stock Exchange - MUST chief executive, Duncan Drasdo, said:

"Until we have more detail it is impossible to say with certainty what this
will mean for Manchester United or its supporters. However from the initial
information we have it appears that the new A shares on offer will be
inferior to the Glazers' own B shares as they will carry only 1/10 of the
voting rights. Furthermore the preliminary filing appears to indicate they
will not be paying dividends either. So a minority shareholding with
inferior voting rights and no dividends is going to severely impact on the
attraction to both financial and supporter investors."

"However if it turns out that the vast majority of the proceeds are used to
pay off the debt that is certainly something MUST would welcome and
entirely vindicates our longstanding position that their debt was damaging
our club. The destination of the funds shows the Glazers have finally
conceded this as their filing includes health warnings 'Our indebtedness
could adversely affect our health and competitive position ... reduce
availability of our cash flow to fund the hiring and retention of players
and coaching staff,' adding: 'We intend to use all of our net proceeds from
this offering to reduce our indebtedness.'

MUST - The Manchester United Supporters' Trust
Our aim is to provide Manchester United fans with the opportunity for mass
supporter participation in ownership of their club. This could well be the
precursor to such an opportunity and we’d urge every Manchester United
supporter who cares about the club to register with the Manchester United
Supporters Trust (MUST) through our website. We will provide information to
supporters as soon as it is available.

We’d like to see at least a million Manchester United supporters sharing in
ownership of their club and it is our role as the official supporters trust
to try to make that possible. Supporters can register for free through
www.joinmust.org for information.


For further quotes or other information :
Duncan Drasdo, MUST chief executive
Mobile: 07883070876
Twitter: @Drasdo