The Manchester United board have announced that they have ended talks with US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer, saying his takeover proposal risked leaving the club mired in debt.
The Man United PLC board have been in talks with Glazer in the last few weeks as he steadily increased his stake in the club to 28.11%. At 30%, Glazer would be obliged to make a formal takeover offer.
However the club said it would reject any proposal in its current form from the American, expressing concern about the level of borrowing that Glazer would have to do in order to fund the bid.
"The financial returns in any football club are very closely correlated with performance on the pitch," the PLC said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
"Given its views on the importance of an appropriate capital structure, the board has decided to inform all shareholders that it would regard an offer which it believes to be overly leveraged as not being in the best interests of the company."
"Accordingly the board has determined that it would not support any offer underpinned by the structure which has been outlined in relation to the Glazer Family's potential offer," the statement added.
"The board has informed the Glazer family of these views and that it has therefore terminated discussions with respect to the current proposals."
