LONDON (AP) — Manchester United plans to refinance its debt with a bond sale that the Premier League club hopes will raise about $808 million.
United’s debt is reported to be $1.1 billion, after American businessman Malcolm Glazer used loans to buy the club in 2005. United released annual results Monday showing it paid $67.8 million in interest for the year ending June 30, 2009, and the bond sale could reduce those payments.
The amount of interest paid resulted in a pretax profit of $78 million, despite a season in which the club won a record-tying third straight Premier League title, reached the Champions League final and sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid.
The total debt includes a payment-in-kind loan that the Glazer family, which also owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, took out as part of a 2006 refinancing.