6 Comments

Andrew,

Question of ignorance and admittedly, laziness. Can you go into more detail on how $MANU public shareholders could be left out of a bid?

"MANU and WWE are both controlled companies. They could decide to walk away from a sale. They could have unrealistic price expectations. They could sell a minority stake in the team (it seems like MANU is at least considering this process). They could sell control of the teams and leave minority shareholders out to dry (it seems like WWE is at least considering this process, particularly if Vince stays in control)."

How are the shares structured and what is the controlling law here? And what does that law say?

I doubt anyone wants to buy a stake without having control of the team, etc. So what are the scenarios where someone can buy control without the public shareholders participating?

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For MANU- I think it's more likely the Glazers would sell a minority stake to someone. YOu'd be surprised; I don't know why someone would want a noncontrol interet in a minority team, but people do it all the time! MSGS is considering raising one right now

On selling without including minorities- you could just sell all of your shares to the new bidder. For WWE, Vince could just sell his control shares. MANU could do something similar- I believe the Glazers own super voting classs b shares

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thanks. this seems like the big risk. that the buyer is happy owning control but not 100%.

and in the case of large minority buys, don't they frequently include some sort of right-of-first refusal if/when the control sells the rest?

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I bought MANU in the low double digits right before the stock took off and have been trimming on spikes due to the risk that public shareholders are left hanging. Hopefully I'm being excessively cautious.

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Up 90% since December. I think you'll be fine regardless

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Sadly everything else I own isn't up 90% since December lol.

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