Manchester United kicks off the Premier League season on Friday with a match against Fulham at Old Trafford. The Red Devils will take the field with a new front-of-jersey sponsor in Snapdragon, and a new largest institutional shareholder of its publicly traded stock.
A Monday SEC filing revealed Chicago-based Ariel Investments bought 3 million Man United shares since the end of March. It raised its stake to 8.3 million shares, or 15% of the outstanding total, up from 10%. Lindsell Train was the previous largest institutional holder at 7.1 million shares, or 13.5% of the total. Lindsell cut its stake by 7.6% during the quarter.
“Manchester United is a terrific franchise,” John Miller, portfolio manager at Ariel Investments, said in a May video interview with Sportico. “We know they have had difficulties lately, and this is the time where you really want to buy into it.”
Ariel first invested in Man United in 2021 when it purchased 6.6 million shares during the third quarter and added another 4.35 million over the following three months when it became Man United’s largest institutional shareholder. Ariel’s holding peaked at 12.3 million as of March 2022. It paid between $12 and $14 for most of its stake.
The firm sold nearly 3 million shares, or 26% of its then stake during the fourth quarter of 2022, as the stock spiked after the Glazer family, which controls the team via a class of supervoting shares, hired The Raine Group to explore “all strategic alternatives” for the 20-time English champions. Shares topped $23 in December.
Ariel continued to pare its United position before the club’s sale process concluded in February with Jim Ratcliffe paying £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion at the time) for 25% of the team. Ratcliffe paid $33 for 25% of the publicly traded shares.
“You know what the value is based on Ratcliffe’s purchase price,” Miller said. “Sports teams make long-term investments that will pay off in the long run, and that is what we are seeing with Manchester United.”
Manchester United shares on the New York Stock Exchange opened Monday at $16.81.
The club ranked first in Sportico’s annual list of the most valuable soccer teams at $6.2 billion and is looking to improve its on-field performance after it finished eighth last season, its worst showing since the launch of the Premier League in 1992.
