Post by QPR Report on Jan 12, 2010 7:39:01 GMT
Owen Gibson/The Guardian
Glazer family takes £20m in fees and loans from Manchester United• Six members of the owner's family borrowed a total of £10m
• A further £10m paid in fees to company 'related' to Glazers
Manchester United's owners, who loaded the club with more than £700m in borrowings to fund their purchase, have taken £10m out of the club in "management and administration fees" and have personally borrowed a further £10m in the past year, it has emerged.
The club's financial results, released yesterday, revealed that six members of the Glazer family on the Red Football board had borrowed a total of £10m, which does not have to be repaid for five years.
Manchester United also released an offer document yesterday for the £500m bond it says will be used to re-finance the £509m debt secured on the club.
The offer document reveals that on 30 June last year the club entered into a £2.9m-per-year agreement with SLP Partners, a company related to the Glazers. Since 1 July 2006 a further total of £10m has been paid in "management and administration fees".
"During the period from 1 July 2006 to the date of this offering memorandum, management and administration fees of approximately £0.6m, £1.8m, £1.4m, £3.1m and £3.1m were paid to our affiliates," it said.
Under the terms of the bond issue it promises to terminate the agreement with SLP Partners but reserves the right to pay up to £6m per year to "one or more entities related to our ultimate shareholders for administration and management services".
The 322-page offer document for those bonds, circulated in the City yesterday, also makes provision for £70m to be redistributed to the ultimate parent company for "general corporate purposes, including repaying existing indebtedness". This is thought to refer to the high-interest hedge fund loans secured against the Glazers' own shareholding in Manchester United. Those Payment In Kind loans, which accrue interest at a rate of 14.25% a year and "roll up" on an annual basis, are now believed to be worth almost £200m, as compared with £175m the previous year.
The document also reveals that the club has received a large slice, £35.9m, of its new £80m sponsorship deal with AON. It also reveals plans for a new £75m "revolving credit line".
City insiders expect the refinancing, put on hold when the markets collapsed in 2008, to succeed. The bond's yield, which could be around 9%, will be set only after an international roadshow. The offer document also reveals that Red Football recently lost £35m when attempting to hedge against a rise in interest rates last year.
In its financial results the club revealed that it was only the £80m sale of Ronaldo and other transfer dealings that lifted Manchester United out of the red last season. Results for the Red Football Ltd subsidiary revealed a pre-tax profit of £48.2m but also indicated the overall amount owed by the club and its owners broke the £700m barrier for the first time since Malcolm Glazer acquired the club in 2005.
Despite increased revenues, interest payments and write downs meant that, without the £80.7m realised in transfer profits in the year to June 2009, the club would have made a loss of £32.5m.
According to yesterday's results, bank loans secured on the club now stand at £509.5m, compared with £518.7m the previous year. Interest payments on that debt totalled £41.9m.
Representatives of the Glazers have repeatedly pointed to the cash flow generated by the club, once the interest on the loans had been serviced and before write-offs, as proof that money is available to Sir Alex Ferguson for team strengthening purposes.
The Glazers have been keen to emphasise that the PIK loans, advanced by hedge funds at a high rate of interest when the family last restructured the debt in 2006, are not secured on the club but on their shareholding in it. If they were to default, the hedge funds would not have any say over the operational side of the business.
The £500m bond issue, if fully subscribed, is unlikely to reduce the club's interest burden in the short term. It will be used to repay four secured loans, with interest rates of between 2.125% and 5% above the Libor rate at which banks lend to one another. Those rates were swapped for a fixed rate of 5.08% last year.According to the offer document, those hedging arrangements had cost Red Football around £35m to 6 January this year. It has promised to use some of the proceeds of the bond issue to reduce the liability by £8m. City sources said that the seven-year bond would give the Glazers greater certainty and no longer leave them at the mercy of the market. The release of yesterday's figures will have partly been designed to prove to potential investors the health of Manchester United's cashflow position despite its heavy debt burden.
The club's results showed an increase in turnover for the year to June 2009 to £278.6m from £256.2m as matchday revenues, media income and commercial revenues all continued to rise.
Matchday revenue increased from £101.5m to £108.8m, largely thanks to increased season-ticket prices, while media revenues rose from £90.7m to £99.7m and commercial income rose from £64m to £70m. The club will also point to a wages to turnover ratio of 44%, which compares favourably with most other Premier League clubs.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/12/manchester-united-finances-glazer-family
Glazer family takes £20m in fees and loans from Manchester United• Six members of the owner's family borrowed a total of £10m
• A further £10m paid in fees to company 'related' to Glazers
Manchester United's owners, who loaded the club with more than £700m in borrowings to fund their purchase, have taken £10m out of the club in "management and administration fees" and have personally borrowed a further £10m in the past year, it has emerged.
The club's financial results, released yesterday, revealed that six members of the Glazer family on the Red Football board had borrowed a total of £10m, which does not have to be repaid for five years.
Manchester United also released an offer document yesterday for the £500m bond it says will be used to re-finance the £509m debt secured on the club.
The offer document reveals that on 30 June last year the club entered into a £2.9m-per-year agreement with SLP Partners, a company related to the Glazers. Since 1 July 2006 a further total of £10m has been paid in "management and administration fees".
"During the period from 1 July 2006 to the date of this offering memorandum, management and administration fees of approximately £0.6m, £1.8m, £1.4m, £3.1m and £3.1m were paid to our affiliates," it said.
Under the terms of the bond issue it promises to terminate the agreement with SLP Partners but reserves the right to pay up to £6m per year to "one or more entities related to our ultimate shareholders for administration and management services".
The 322-page offer document for those bonds, circulated in the City yesterday, also makes provision for £70m to be redistributed to the ultimate parent company for "general corporate purposes, including repaying existing indebtedness". This is thought to refer to the high-interest hedge fund loans secured against the Glazers' own shareholding in Manchester United. Those Payment In Kind loans, which accrue interest at a rate of 14.25% a year and "roll up" on an annual basis, are now believed to be worth almost £200m, as compared with £175m the previous year.
The document also reveals that the club has received a large slice, £35.9m, of its new £80m sponsorship deal with AON. It also reveals plans for a new £75m "revolving credit line".
City insiders expect the refinancing, put on hold when the markets collapsed in 2008, to succeed. The bond's yield, which could be around 9%, will be set only after an international roadshow. The offer document also reveals that Red Football recently lost £35m when attempting to hedge against a rise in interest rates last year.
In its financial results the club revealed that it was only the £80m sale of Ronaldo and other transfer dealings that lifted Manchester United out of the red last season. Results for the Red Football Ltd subsidiary revealed a pre-tax profit of £48.2m but also indicated the overall amount owed by the club and its owners broke the £700m barrier for the first time since Malcolm Glazer acquired the club in 2005.
Despite increased revenues, interest payments and write downs meant that, without the £80.7m realised in transfer profits in the year to June 2009, the club would have made a loss of £32.5m.
According to yesterday's results, bank loans secured on the club now stand at £509.5m, compared with £518.7m the previous year. Interest payments on that debt totalled £41.9m.
Representatives of the Glazers have repeatedly pointed to the cash flow generated by the club, once the interest on the loans had been serviced and before write-offs, as proof that money is available to Sir Alex Ferguson for team strengthening purposes.
The Glazers have been keen to emphasise that the PIK loans, advanced by hedge funds at a high rate of interest when the family last restructured the debt in 2006, are not secured on the club but on their shareholding in it. If they were to default, the hedge funds would not have any say over the operational side of the business.
The £500m bond issue, if fully subscribed, is unlikely to reduce the club's interest burden in the short term. It will be used to repay four secured loans, with interest rates of between 2.125% and 5% above the Libor rate at which banks lend to one another. Those rates were swapped for a fixed rate of 5.08% last year.According to the offer document, those hedging arrangements had cost Red Football around £35m to 6 January this year. It has promised to use some of the proceeds of the bond issue to reduce the liability by £8m. City sources said that the seven-year bond would give the Glazers greater certainty and no longer leave them at the mercy of the market. The release of yesterday's figures will have partly been designed to prove to potential investors the health of Manchester United's cashflow position despite its heavy debt burden.
The club's results showed an increase in turnover for the year to June 2009 to £278.6m from £256.2m as matchday revenues, media income and commercial revenues all continued to rise.
Matchday revenue increased from £101.5m to £108.8m, largely thanks to increased season-ticket prices, while media revenues rose from £90.7m to £99.7m and commercial income rose from £64m to £70m. The club will also point to a wages to turnover ratio of 44%, which compares favourably with most other Premier League clubs.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/12/manchester-united-finances-glazer-family