Soros holds 7.85 pct of Manchester Utd Class A shares

Date: Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Author: Katya Wachtel and Olivia Oran, Reuters

Hedge fund titan George Soros reported a 7.85 percent passive stake in Manchester United PLC Class A shares as of Aug. 9, according to a filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Soros's eponymous hedge fund, Soros Fund Management LLC, bought 3,114,588 Class A shares in the British soccer club, according to the filing. The Class A shares carry one vote each, compared with 10 votes for every Class B share.

British soccer team Manchester United went public on Aug. 9 on the New York Stock Exchange at a price of $14 a share, below the expected range of $16 to $20. Only the Class A shares were offered in the IPO. The shares on Monday closed down 2.7 percent at $13.06, after hitting a new low of $12.91 earlier in the day.

Soros Fund Management did not immediately return a request for comment.

The IPO raised $233.2 million, which will be split equally between the club and its owners, the Florida-based Glazer family. The Glazers, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Football League team, purchased Manchester United for 790 million pounds ($1.2 billion) in 2005 in a highly levered deal.

Fans have criticized the Glazers for over-levering the once debt-free team. Manchester United's debt load stood at over 437 million pounds ($682 million) as of June 30.

Manchester United lost its Premier League season opener on Monday against Everton. The team announced last week it had signed star striker Robin Van Persie from Arsenal.

Soros, one of the $2 trillion hedge fund industry's most closely watched investors, oversees about $25 billion in assets, even after returning money to outside investors and converting his fund into a family office last summer.

The firm now mainly manages money for Soros, his family and his foundation.