Manchester United bond issue falls flat
By Anousha Sakoui and Roger Blitz in London
Published: February 2 2010 23:39 | Last updated: February 2 2010 23:39
Manchester United may be in contention for another Premier League title, but its success on the pitch has worked little magic in the City. The club’s first bond issue, launched barely two weeks ago, has become one of the market’s worst performers this year.
While the club has secured the £500m ($798m) funding that it needs to refinance its bank debt, the paper losses suffered by investors could affect its ability to return to bond markets.
The bid price of Manchester United’s £250m of sterling denominated bonds has tumbled to just 93 per cent of their face value. For the $425m of dollar-denominated bonds the bid price has fallen to 94.5 per cent of face value.
Bankers and analysts said on Tuesday that the bonds had performed poorly because they had been priced too highly at launch. They also blamed the lack of a credit rating.
“For investors this is bad news because it means you have made losses if you are marking to market,” said Jonathan Moore, analyst at Evolution Securities.
Other recent issues that have fallen in price have not declined as much as Manchester United bonds. Other bonds, including those issued by Kerling, the Norwegian subsidiary of chemical group Ineos, have risen.
“In a benign credit market, Manchester United is one of the worst performing bonds since the beginning of 2009,” said Suki Mann, credit strategist at Société Générale.
One person with knowledge of the company’s financing said that, while it could issue more debt by increasing the size of the outstanding bond, the club was not expected to return to the market soon.
Manchester United is likely to wait until it has reduced its debts before raising fresh funds.
It will want to see how the team performs in this year’s Champions League competition before looking to raise more money that could be used to repay payment-in-kind notes – an instrument allowing borrowers to roll over cash interest payments – that were issued as part of its £790m buy-out in 2005.
The club declined to comment but people close to it said a return to the market was “not on the agenda” and that the club’s priority was to placate fans angered by the bond issue and plans by the Glazer family, United’s US-based owners, to start paying down the PIK loans with club proceeds.
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