Stefan Borson: Man United could land £1bn debt

Manchester United would take on the debt for the new stadium project instead of INEOS as Sir Jim Ratcliffe is exploring potential funding options.

That is the view of former Man City financial advisor Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider there is “no way” INEOS will take on the debt for the development as the company is only a minority shareholder in Man United.

The Premier League giants have set up an expert task force – which includes Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and ex-defender Gary Neville – as they look to either regenerate Old Trafford or build a new stadium.

Ratcliffe has been exploring various potential avenues to fund the stadium project since his arrival at Man United in February.

Talks are believed to have taken place with major financial institutions after reports suggested a new stadium could cost around £2billion, while a redevelopment is expected to be around £1billion.

Man United to take on debts for new stadium project

Borson believes loading another £1billion onto the club’s existing debts wouldn’t “look good optically”.

“The debt will definitely be on an entity of Manchester United, it won’t be on INEOS,” Borson told Football Insider.

“INEOS are only a 25-28 per cent shareholder. There is no way INEOS are going to take on the debt of United for the other 72-75 per cent shareholders.

“There may be some structure where INEOS guarantee or provide some kind of extra security for the loan.

“But ultimately, the essence of INEOS taking on the debt would be effectively to subsidise the Glazers and the public shareholders, so I don’t think they are going to do that.

“But it is an issue for United, they have already got a huge amount of debt anyway, so loading on another £1billion of debt on the stadium as an asset is not ideal.

“It’s certainly not going to look good optically.”

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The post Stefan Borson: Man United could land £1bn debt appeared first on Football Insider.