Manchester United plans to sit down with its two biggest shareholders and put an end to months of speculation over the ownership of the world's richest soccer club, it said today.
The move follows the ousting of three of its directors on Friday by US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer, who has a 28.11 per cent stake in Manchester United. His attempts to take over the English club have twice been thwarted by J.P. McManus and John Magnier, who own 28.9 per cent through their investment vehicle Cubic Expression.
United wants to know whether Glazer still intends to buy the club and whether the two Irish horseracing magnates will sell him their stake, to end months of uncertainty.
"We want to try and sit down with all our big shareholders and find a long term solution to this problem," a Manchester United spokesman told Reuters. "Meeting this week might be a bit too immediate but we do need to sit down with both." The spokesman did not give any indication of when the talks might take place.
Manchester United is hoping that the City's regulatory Takeover Panel will take up its case and tell Glazer to either "put up or shut up".
No definitive bid proposal had ever been put by Glazer to the board of the 15-times English soccer champions.
Typically the panel can only intervene when a company is in an offer period, which Manchester United is no longer. Sources close to the panel said on Friday that under certain circumstances it can still intervene and force a potential bidder, such as Glazer, to show his or her hand.
Man United called off talks with Glazer last month over his proposed offer as the debt-free club said it would not support a bid that involved taking on a large amount of debt to finance a near £800 million sterling ($1.47 billion) takeover.