Man United shares flat in debut after IPO disappoints

[oldcoach]

LONDON/NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Shares in Manchester United Ltd made a flat stock market debut on Friday, a disappointment for the world's most famous soccer club but one it insisted would have no effect on its ability to acquire top-flight players.

Manchester United sold 16.7 million shares at a price of $14 each, below the expected range of $16 to $20, and shares closed unchanged.

The stock never dipped below $14, held mostly in a five-cent range and saw volume thin sharply after early trading. One IPO expert said the team may have made a serious miscalculation about the support it would receive.

"They overestimated the willingness of the fan base to go buy the stock. So it's kind of sitting there right now," said Francis Gaskins, editor of IPOdesktop.com. "If they don't have any buyers now at this price, why would they have any buyers (next week)."

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...8JA9GF20120810


Any one thinks it's a buy?

[Darvish11]

Suprised more fans didnt buy it. It would be such cool thing to say, "im part owner of manchester united!". The packers did something where they sold "shares" of the team, made a killing, and the shares werent even worth anything! Just a souvenir basically. If I were a man U fan i would jump on it. As far as it being a good investment though, with that leadership im not so sure. And thats really what would move the price, the people who are willing to invest 100s of thousands of dollars, not random fans looking to buy a few shares.

[Prince of Fasa]

Perspolis, Bayern Munchen, Arsenal

[oldcoach]

Manchester United investors, we’ve got some good news and some bad news.

First the good news: you got your man. Robin van Persie, the Dutch striker and star of rival Arsenal will be headed to the Red Devils for a cool 24 million pounds ($31.3 million) in transfer fees. That’s big. It pairs him with Wayne Rooney and gives Manchester United a pretty potent force on the front line.

Then there’s the bad news: the stock is dropping.

For the first time the storied soccer club that IPOd last week, Manchester United is trading below its IPO price of $14. The stock recently fell to $13.71, down 2.4% today after hitting as low as $13.29.

The stock ended its first day absolutely flat, and managed to tread water above it for the week.

Manchester United has argued that its global brand and near religious followers are more important than performance on the field. It’s lawyer has also said no one player would mark a material event for the company.

That at least looks true, since the signing of a new star apparently isn’t enough to excite investors.

[soheil86]

man utd is at its peak currently. the team has no potential for further growth. it was always going to be a bad "investment'

[oldcoach]

By Brendan Conway
It looks like hedge-fund manager George Soros is a fan of the newly public Manchester United (MANU). Soros Fund Management reported a 7.85% stake in the newly public company in a regulatory filing.

Shares are up 1.5% mid-Tuesday. But it’s still been a tough two weeks since the IPO. The stock priced below the expected range of $16 to $20. It hasn’t recaptured $14.

As my colleague Avi Salzman summed things up after the IPO:

Various analysts have warned investors to vote with their heads and not their hearts even if they like the team.

No less an authority than ESPN weighed in with an article about why the shares may be overvalued — the owners’ ability to maintain control through the B shares is one of the top reasons analysts are telling people to avoid the stock. Forbes also notes that sports teams that have traded in the past — including when Manchester United traded on public markets before the Glazer purchase — have tended to underperform the market.

Of course, the analysts might be Arsenal fans.