03/08/2012
Putting Pressure on the Banks
Today we launched a new campaign to put pressure on the IPO banks and potential investors in the Glazer IPO.
As 38 degrees did against the Olympic Tax Dodge, we have organised an email/social media campaign designed to shine a bright light on supporters’ opposition to the rip-off their IPO represents.
If you’d like to participate in the campaign, go to http://action.joinmust.org/fairshare
Please help us by alerting your friends and contacts via Twitter, Facebook and whatever other means you have.
A copy of the email the bankers will be receiving is below. Let us know what you think in the comments.
I am a passionate Manchester United Football Club supporter. I have been for most of my life.
The club is in my blood. I doubt very much it is in yours but you are now playing a part in my team’s history – by advising the Glazer family on the forthcoming NYSE IPO.
You know this IPO is going to be bad for business.
You know the valuation is high. This isn’t a tech company. It’s not an “emerging growth†company. It’s a sports team, one already at the high end of the scale.
There’s no meaningful control. There’s no dividend.
There’s no value in these shares.
The only potential ROI is if the club’s fortunes improve. How is this going to happen with the Glazer family already planning to extract $150 million from the proceeds. Do you think they’ll stop there? They’ve already cost United nearly $800 million in fees and interest.
There’s no upside to this.
There’s no value to institutions or to retail investors when owners treat their company and customers like an ATM.
Meanwhile, Sarbanes and Oxley are having a good laugh as the classification of the business and how it makes a mockery of the JOBS Act. It's an election year, too.
Given current perceptions of the banking industry, are you really sure you want to be holding this bag?
It’s not just fans like me who are watching. It’s your entire industry, the journalists who cover it and the Senators and Congressmen who regulate it.
Step away from this.
If you want to invest in something, we want to provide a different vision.
We want meaningful fan ownership, a club run in its best interests. Where commercial revenues are reinvested and don't walk out in the pockets of absentee owners who want to use the Company as a private piggybank.
We believe this vision is attainable. If this vision appeals to you as well, contact MUST.
Thank you.