Originally targeting a share offering of between $16 and $20, Manchester United has been forced to cut down to $14 in advance of today’s historic flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. The Glazer family are eager to float Britain’s largest football club in the US in order to help service the large debts that were loaded onto the company when they bought it in 2005 for $1.25bn. They intended to sell a ten percent stake in the business, which should raise around $330m. The family has come in for criticism, however, as reports have suggested they are to take $140m of that amount for themselves, instead of using it all to pay off debts of nearly $661m. Supporters of the club are calling for a boycott of sponsor’s products in order to pressure the Glazers into either leaving the club, or paying off more of the debt. In a statement, the supports trust said: “The Manchester United Supporters Trust has today called for a worldwide boycott of Manchester United sponsors’ products, with support across the UK, Europe, Asia and the US. The boycott strategy is intended to send a loud and clear message to the Glazer family and club sponsors that, without the support and purchasing power of the fans, the global strength of the Manchester United brand doesn’t actually exist.” Despite the cut in price, the club will still likely be valued at around $2.3bn on its flotation, making it the most valuable club in the world, with […]

Belgium has interrupted the use of one of its seven nuclear reactors, after suspicion was raised that one of its components might be cracked, according to the local atomic regulator. The Doel 3 reactor, located around 25km north of Antwerp provides around 16 percent of the country’s nuclear energy. The suspected damages aren’t thought to pose a safety threat, according to Belgium’s nuclear watchdog AFCN, but activities will remain halted at least until the end of August. “We have found anomalies,” said Karina De Beule, spokesman for the ACFN. “At present we can guarantee that there are no risks to workers, citizens and the environment.” The event has so far been classified as level 1, on a scale where Chernobyl-level accidents are scored a 7. De Beulle has said the anomalies found on the reactor so far might be insignificant, in which case they will be fixed and the reactor will reopen; but the investigation might also reveal a significant threat to the integrity of the reactor. So far, preliminary analysis suggests that the inner steel tank might have been affected by years of exposure to the radiation within, causing fractures. The equipment was produced by Rotterdam Drydocks, which went bankrupt in the 1980s. Similar tanks are used by many other nuclear sites around the world, including in the US, Germany and Spain. Since the Fukushima reactor disaster last year many European countries have vowed to phase out their nuclear reactors. Belgium plans to have moved on from the technology […]

A slowdown in industrial output and retail sales has seen China’s economy stumble in the second half of 2012, alarming investors who had hoped the world’s second largest economy would be immune to the troubles affecting the US and Europe. The economy slowed to 7.6 percent for the second quarter of this year, the lowest rate China has seen since 2009. Industrial output slumped to 9.2 percent in July, despite forecasts that it would rise from the 9.5 percent in June. In a note to clients, Nomura economist Zhang Zhiwei said: “Weak industrial production growth is likely to trigger stronger policy easing. The possibility of an interest-rate cut has increased.” After the economic crisis in 2009, China responded with a mammoth stimulus package that boosted growth. It is unlikely, however, that Premier Wen Jiabao will sanction anything like the $585bn package this time, although some form of stimulus is expected to help aid the recovery. The Chinese administration has been eager to stay away from large stimulus packages in recent years, with more of a focus on steady growth, something which some analysts believe will happen now. Yiping Huang, Barclay Capital’s chief economist for Asia, told Reuters: “The recovery will be very modest – more like stabilisation and gradual improvement.”

After agreeing a deal between Sudan and South Sudan that aims to open up the oil production of the two countries, the US is hoping that China and Middle Eastern states will help invest up to $3bn to get oil flowing. The deal between the two neighbouring countries will see South Sudan pay a fee of $9.48 for every barrel transported through a pipeline in Sudan, as well as paying over $3bn to Khartoum as a result of the separation of the two countries. However, Sudan also requires an additional $3bn to fill the funding gap created by the separation. South Sudan is relatively oil rich compared to its neighbour, and upon secession took much of the money that had propped up the Sudanese economy. As a result, earlier this year both countries nearly went to war over oil sharing. Sudan’s economy has struggled this year, but US President Obama hopes the agreement will help get it back on track: “This agreement opens the door to a future of greater prosperity for the people of both countries. “The leader of Sudan and South Sudan deserve congratulations for reaching agreement and finding compromise on such an important issue, and I applaud the efforts of the international community, which came together to encourage and support the parties in finding a resolution.” As the US says it is unable to provide the $3bn itself, it is reportedly looking toward countries around the world to step up.

With the financial crisis engulfing the Greek economy, the leaders of the country’s state owned financial institutions might be expected to show solidarity with struggling citizens by keeping their money in the country. However, it has been revealed that the former chief of struggling ATEbank has been transferring his personal savings abroad. Theodore Pantalakis admitted this weekend that he had sent as much as €8m abroad in order to purchase London property, just a few months before ATEbank was declared non-viable. The bank was split up last month, with many of its assets being taken over by Greece’s fourth largest lender, Piraeus Bank. Transferring funds abroad is not illegal, although many have deemed it unethical while liquidity issues affect the Greek economy. One banker told the Financial Times: “Nobody has suggested Mr Pantalakis sent the funds abroad illegally. But there is clearly an ethical issue since he was serving as the head of a big state bank at a time of financial and economic crisis.” Pantalakis maintains that he has not acted improperly, however, telling the Greece’s Realnews paper on Sunday: “It is €8m, mine and my family’s. It is legal, reported and taxec and part of the family’s wealth, the level of which justifies (the transfer).”