English soccer champions Manchester United(MANU.N) have trimmed 10 million pounds off the annual interest bill on their debt through a refinancing arranged by Bank of America. The move could free up more cash to help new team manager David Moyes to strengthen his team for next season after taking over from Alex Ferguson, who retired this month after leading United to 13 English league titles.
The American Glazer family bought United for 790 million pounds in 2005 but burdened the club with heavy debts. A vocal section of United fans have argued that high interest payments have forced up ticket prices and diverted cash that should have been spent on players. United's debt currently stands at 367 million pounds and the club made interest payments of 46 million pounds in the nine months to the end of March, its latest earnings release showed.
Under the new financing deal the club's MU Finance subsidiary is redeeming bonds with a total value of around $290 million and taking a new loan facility with Bank of America. Interest on the new loan has been set at Libor (London interbank offered rate) plus 1.5 to 2.75 percent per year. "If calculated today, we estimate that the starting rate of interest would be approximately 2.78 percent, resulting in an interest reduction of around 10 million pounds per year," United said in a statement issued late on Thursday.
United are going through a period of management transition, with Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward taking
03:11 PM, May 24, 2013
Pretoria: South African President Jacob Zuma was not involved in a wedding scandal in which a private plane of the affluent and well-connected Indian Gupta family landed at a sensitive military airbase, an investigation revealed on Sunday, reported Xinhua. "In any event, the president is not involved in authorizing the landing or not landing of aircraft at airports," Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe told reporters in Pretoria. There...
04:16 AM, May 20, 2013
The Duchess of Cambridge was recently voted the world's best dressed pregnant star by the Vanity Fair magazine. ...
06:55 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: India was considering sending a team of doctors to Lahore to assess the medical condition of Sarabjit Singh after its suggestion for shifting him here was not accepted but he died before the plan could fructify. The proposal came up as Sarabjit's condition worsened and India was not sure about the quality of medical treatment being given to him, sources said. India was provided with daily updates about...
08:35 PM, May 02, 2013
Amritsar: Pakistani prisoners lodged in Indian jails were safe, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur on Thursday said. Answering reporters' questions here this evening on ensuring the safety of Indian and Pakistan prisoners in each other's territories, Kaur said "Pakistani prisoners are safe in Indian jails. We are a responsible government." She said the Indian plane carrying the body of Sarabjit had taken off from Lahore International Airport...
08:25 PM, May 02, 2013
Lahore: In a damage control exercise shortly after Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh died in a Lahore hospital, Pakistani authorities on Thursday slapped murder charges against two jail inmates for his brutal killing and ordered a judicial probe. The decisions came after stinging criticism from India as also Sarabjit's family on Pakistan's refusal to hand over Sarabjit for better treatment and its inability to provide adequate security despite having being warned...
08:15 PM, May 02, 2013
London: New sponsorship deals in Europe and Asia helped English soccer champions Manchester United to report a 23 per cent increase in underlying profit in the three months to March. United, who have just recaptured the English Premier League title, said they were on course to hit revenue and profit targets for their financial year, which runs to the end of June. The club claims to have more than 650...
05:26 PM, May 02, 2013
Boston: Investigators on Monday removed bags of evidence including some containing DNA samples from the home in Rhode Island where the widow of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been living, according to a person familiar with the investigation. FBI agents spent hours at the home of Katherine Russell's parents in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and came out carrying bags marked as DNA samples, a person familiar with the...
06:37 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Kolkata: Angry relatives of a woman on Sunday vandalised a hospital in Burdwan after one of her newborn twins died. The rampaging men were caught on camera raiding the hospital, severely beating up nurses and other medical staff and damaging hospital equipment. The nurses were injured and are now under medical care. The attack happened despite the hospital authorities asking for police protection which obviously did not arrive on time....
07:34 PM, Apr 28, 2013
Amritsar/Lahore: As the family of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh, who is battling for life in a Lahore hospital after being attacked in a prison by his fellow inmates, prepares to leave for Pakistan to visit him, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed out at the government over the issue on Sunday. "If a government is not capable of protecting its citizens and ensuring their safety then that government...
12:19 PM, Apr 28, 2013
As the news of attack on death row convict Sarabjit Singh travelled to his family, it has been seeking help of the government in providing them visa for Pakistan. ...
11:49 AM, Apr 27, 2013
London: Alex Ferguson has helped Manchester United win their 20th league title and also helped himself 49 club trophies. Beyond that, the focus will shift to next season with the Scot confident there is even better to come from a squad that has critics divided when considering how it measures up to others like the 1999 treble winners or 1994 double winners. "There's a lot of youth in the team,...
10:15 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Here are the top goal scorers of the English premier league 2012-13 as on Monday. 24 Robin van Persie (Manchester United) 23 Luis Suarez (Liverpool) 18 Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) 17 Michu (Swansea City) 15 Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) Demba Ba (Chelsea) 14 Rickie Lambert (Southampton) 13 Dimitar Berbatov (Fulham) Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion) 12 Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) Frank Lampard (Chelsea) Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)...
08:48 AM, Apr 23, 2013
London: A large part of this year's Premier League title was settled at the end of last season when Manchester United's horror at losing out on goal difference to neighbours Manchester City turned into a ruthless pursuit of records, goals and a 20th league crown. Manager Alex Ferguson vowed his team would never again miss out because they had not scored enough goals and swiftly brought in prolific striker Robin...
08:43 AM, Apr 23, 2013
London: Manchester United have been signing off new sponsorship deals in the boardroom almost as regularly as they have been winning matches on the field on their way to a record 20th English soccer title. Although some fans grumble the club has become too commercialised, its marketing muscle has helped to fund signings like Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa and allowed United to restore their dominance of the Premier...
08:37 AM, Apr 23, 2013
London: India's leading industrialist brothers, Mukesh and Anil Ambani, have been together listed as 20th richest in the world in the Sunday Times Rich List 2013. The brothers, who have separate industrial empire in India, have been clubbed together under the category of Petrochemicals and they are jointly assessed worth 17 billion pounds as against 19 billion pounds in 2012. The Hinduja brothers, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, Chairman and Co-Chairman...
12:59 PM, Apr 21, 2013
New Delhi: Delhi Health and Family Minister AK Walia on Saturday called upon medical professionals to work in close association with one another as well as with environmental specialists to achieve the goal of holistic health. "The health ministry is looking for such collaborations as centre point of all health care agencies in future whereby every citizen will have access to clean water, clean food and clean air," said Walia...
04:54 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Muzaffarpur: The Bharthua panchayat on Saturday decided to boycott the family of rape accused Manoj Kumar after villagers came to know about his involvement in the horrific crime in east Delhi. This decision was taken by members at an emergency meeting of the panchayat. 25-year-old Kumar is a native of Bharthua panchayat under Auraiya police station area of Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, about 50 km from Patna. He was arrested by...
12:27 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Phagwara: A day after a man succumbed to his injuries after a robbery attack, the family of the victim on Friday staged a protest against alleged police inaction outside the office of SDM carrying his body. Parwinder Singh (35) was attacked by three unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants on March 29, 2013 when he was returning back home in Chachoki village from his mobile store. Grievously injuring Singh, the attackers took away...
02:42 AM, Apr 20, 2013
