IT'S ARRIVED

Last updated : 15 April 2005 By Editor

This from the Guardian on the latest Glazer bid

Malcolm Glazer's advisers yesterday delivered the American's formal proposal to buy Manchester United to the club's representatives in the City. The plan, said to contain more detail than February's rebuffed version, is effectively a final attempt to win support from the Old Trafford board.

However, Glazer may be prepared to launch a full bid even without a recommendation from United's directors that shareholders should accept a 300p-a-share cash offer. "It would only be difficult to make progress if there was outright hostility," said one City source.

United's directors have described the 300p price as "fair" but their advisers Cazenove are expected to take at least a week to respond. In the City, United's share price rose 5p to 277.5p yesterday - a gain of almost 2%.

Glazer and his advisers Rothschild appear to have done little to make their proposals more palatable. The board's previous objection was to the planned use of high levels of debt and to Glazer's business plan, which the board said contained "aggressive" assumptions. The level of debt, about £300m, is understood to be about the same figure in the new plan.

There are, however, "sweeteners" for fans. United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson would be given a £20m transfer budget this summer; expansion of Old Trafford would proceed; and small shareholders would be able to keep their stakes and trade them on the Ofex market.