Malcolm Glazer yesterday reached 74.8% ownership of Manchester United as he launched his formal bid with a pledge to support the manager Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill.
The American's statement also revealed that the direct debt in his bidding vehicle, called Red Football, will be £265m. That sum will be secured against the club's assets, notably the Old Trafford stadium.
Joel Glazer, the son who will be closely involved at United, also made an attempt to pacify angry fans. He said in the statement: "We are delighted to make this offer to acquire one of the pre-eminent football clubs in the world. We are long-term sports investors and avid Manchester United fans.
"Our intention is to work with the current management, players and fans to ensure Manchester United continues to develop and achieve even greater success." Advisers made clear the phrase "current management" referred to both Ferguson and Gill.
However, a full campaign by Joel Glazer to woo fans has been deferred until after next weekend's FA Cup final clash with Arsenal. He judged there was a risk of antagonising supporters ahead of the game.
The Glazers' funding for the £790m takeover is entirely as expected - a roughly even split between three sources. The family will provide £272m in cash and United shares they already own; £275m will be raised by issuing preference shares to City funds; and £265m will be borrowed by Red Football, mostly from the US investment bank JP Morgan.
Further share purchases yesterday took the Glazers' ownership of United to within touching distance of the 75% needed to take the club private. Dermot Desmond, the chairman of Celtic, is believed to have sold his 1.5% stake, worth just under £12m.
The 75% ownership mark will - barring a miracle - be reached early on Monday morning. A mere 527,000 shares, or £1.6m worth, is required to pass the mark. At that point, United's board is expected to concede defeat and advise shareholders there is little point in trying to resist Glazer any longer.
The danger for small investors is that they would be left as minority share holders in a Glazer company. Virtually their only legal rights would be to receive the audited accounts and attend an annual meeting.
Glazer's statement made clear dividend payments would almost certainly be scrapped - in other words, minority shareholders would be tying up capital on which they would receive no income.
Despite that threat, Shareholders United, the fans' group that led the anti-Glazer campaign, urged its 28,000 members not to sell their shares. It claimed "the fight is not yet over" and that a collective stake held by fans could still be useful.
Shares held by SU members are estimated to amount to 2%, which may be enough to prevent Glazer purchasing those shares compulsorily.
Takeover rules dictate that a bidder can only compulsorily purchase shares once he has acquired 90% of the shares he did not own on the day the offer was launched. The launch date is taken as the day on which the formal offer document is posed to shareholders - in Glazer's case, that will be early next week. If he had 75% ownership then, he would have to reach 90% of the outstanding 25% to make compulsory purchases - implying he would need 97.5% of the entire company.
With the addition of a few more shares, the SU group could resist compulsory purchase and register their anti-Glazer feelings annually at the shareholders' meeting.
Another avenue of resistance for fans is an application to the courts to stop Glazer taking the club private. Only 50 shareholders, regardless of the size of their holdings, are needed to make such an application.
There are few legal precedents for such a move and, even were a fan-led application to succeed, it would not alter Glazer's control of the club, though he might have to refinance some of his borrowings.
SU said it is considering such a legal challenge with its lawyers. "Glazer will soon realise, if he doesn't already know, that we will not be going away quietly," said the chairman Nick Towle.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
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