(Photo: Wikimedia)
Manchester United is the most valuable sports franchise in the world.
Britain's Manchester United Ltd. (NYSE:MANU) soccer team, the world's most valuable sports franchise, began publicly trading Friday, but Wall Street investors gave a less-than-enthusiastic welcome to the 134-year-old club.
Shares crept up a mere four cents to $14.04 in morning trading, a disappointment to the club's owners, the Florida-based Glazer family, which also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team.
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Manchester United's initial public offering (IPO) was priced at $14, beneath the $16 to $20 range the club's bankers were seeking. At $14 per share, the owners will lose as much as $100 million, according to Reuters, which said the team is now valued at about $2.3 billion.
The IPO raised $233 million, to be split equally between the club -- which at the end of March had debts of about $661 million -- and the Glazer family.
This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader
