LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) Manchester United [MNU.UL] is planning to raise up to two-thirds of a planned $1 billion initial public offering in Singapore through non-voting preferences shares, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper reported that the move would keep as much as 88 percent of voting rights in the hands of the Glazer family, its American owners.
Plans being drawn up for the IPO would see the English soccer's Premier League champions selling about a third of the equity in the club, which is valued at about $3 billion.
According to people with knowledge of the transaction cited in the article, the balance of the shares would be in the form of nonvoting perpetual preference stock without dividend guarantees or the right to sell the shares back to the club, both common features of preference share issues.
The preference shares would rank ahead of the ordinary shares in the event of an insolvency, potentially making them attractive to institutions such as Temasek [TEM.UL], the Singapore state investment agency, which is considering taking a large stake as a cornerstone investor.
The two classes of shares would be sold as a package, although the relative values have not been finalised, according to the FT.
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