17 Nov 2010

Glazers to pay off Man U loans

6:07 am on 17 November 2010

Manchester United's American owners plan to reduce the financial pressure on the English football club by paying off high-interest loans, estimated to be worth 450 million dollars.

The loans were taken out with three US hedge funds to help finance the Glazer family's 1.6 billion dollar takeover in 2005.

The football club's total debts are estimated at more than 1.5 billion dollars.

It is not yet clear how the Glazer family were able to raise the money to pay off the loans but significantly it is not with funds from the club.

The Glazers are most likely to have borrowed money from other financial institutions at more affordable rates.