‘Man Utd ditches Singapore IPO in favour of US listing’

MANCHESTER United has dropped its plans for an IPO in Singapore and is now preparting to list in the US, according to reports.

The club, owned by the Florida-based Glazer family and which claims to have more than 600 million fans worldwide, had planned a $1bn (£642.8m) listing in Singapore in the second half of last year before putting plans on hold because of market turmoil.

The club declined to comment on the report by the news agency Reuters.

A recent survey by Forbes rated United as the world’s most highly valued sports team. Unlike most other leading clubs, United are profitable, though their earnings were dented last season by their failure to win a trophy for the first time since 2005.

Unquestionable the most commercially successful football club, it recently signed a sponsorship deal with General Motors, and has commercial partners in more than 70 countries.

Un-named sources told Reuters that Manchester United plans to position itself as a global media business rather than a sports franchise, suggesting that a US listing would make more sense.

US investors are also familiar with the dual-class share structure that was under discussion for Manchester United’s Singapore listing, having seen it used by household names such as Google and Facebook.

The Glazers are understood to have wanted to sell Class B shares with limited or no voting rights to maintain a level of control of 95-100%.