Manchester United shares debut in New York

Shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to the
applause of co-chairmen Avram and Joel Glazer and chief executive David Gill

Shares in Manchester United have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The football club's shares initially rose slightly to $14.05, before closing flat at the offer price of $14. The offer price was less than the $16-$20 United had wanted to sell them for.

Ten percent of the club was sold in the initial public offering (IPO), raising $233m (£150m), a third less than hoped.

Members of the club's American owners, the Glazer family, rang the opening bell which marks the start of trading.

Ed Woodward, vice chairman of Manchester United, said that the club reduced the share price because more investors were comfortable with that figure.

"The huge number of high-quality institutional investors that were there at $14 just made us more comfortable in terms of the longer-term view here, with regard to the type of investor base we wanted," said Mr Woodward.

There are concerns that this will deprive Manchester United of some of the funds it needs to compete in the transfer market, potentially hitting its performance on the pitch. And as sporting success is so closely linked to profits, there have been fears this could affect its bottom line.

Mr Woodward denied that there was a shortage of cash for player transfers.

"If you look at where we are today in terms of the cash-generative nature of the business, and even more so contractually going forward, we have huge firepower in the transfer market," he said.

-  BBC.co.uk