Almost a QUARTER of Manchester United's total shares on the New York Stock Exchange have been bought by American investment company, Baron Capital.
Baron Capital has been buying up stock and now owns 24 per cent of all the United shares that were sold by the Glazer family in 2012, though that still only represents 2.5 per cent of the club.
Analysts believe the accumulation of shares reflects the firm viewing United as a good long-term investment, rather than Baron Capital making any bid to secure a controlling interest in the club.
The Glazer family only released 10 per cent of the club on to the stock market - they still retain 90 per cent and control the vast majority of votes.
Nevertheless, Baron Capital's actions explain why the share price has been slowly rising despite the club's struggles on the pitch. This has also been fuelled by expectation of an announcement of a new Nike kit deal worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
