Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell have taken lead roles on Manchester United's initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), ending long-running speculation as to where the football club would make its stock market debut.

US firm Latham is advising Man Utd, which submitted its F-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday (3 July). The club is aiming to raise $100m (£64m) to reduce its debts, which as of 31 March stood at £423.3m.

Latham's New York-based co-chair of capital markets Marc Jaffe is leading the firm's team alongside deputy New York chief Ian Schuman.

Davis Polk is advising the underwriters, which include Jefferies Investment Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. The US firm is fielding a New York team led by capital markets co-head Michael Kaplan and fellow partner John Meade.

The filing, which describes Man Utd as an "emerging growth company", also lists offshore law firm Walkers as Cayman Islands counsel.

The news comes after much speculation as to where the Premier League giant would list. In September last year, the US-owned club looked set for a $1bn (£640m) Singapore listing, with Allen & Overy (A&O) corporate heavyweight Andrew Ballheimer in the lead role and Herbert Smith in line to advise the underwriting banks. However, the plans were subsequently put on hold due to market volatility in the region.

Other Asian IPOs delayed so far this year have included Formula One's attempt to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange, while planned Hong Kong listings by London-based luxury jeweller Graff Diamonds and China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings have also been called off.

A&O regularly advises Man Utd on corporate finance matters, and acted for the club's current owners, the Glazer family, on their 2004 takeover, as well as its £500m bond issue in January 2010, which saw the firm field a team led by high yield partner Kevin Muzilla.

Eversheds M&A partner and sports head Daniel Hall commented: "The NYSE is perhaps an odd place to list, as football is a minor sport in the US and London would have been the obvious choice. However, on this deal the Glazers keep control of the club with weighted voting B shares. Such dual share structures are extremely rare in the UK and unattractive to UK investors who want to be real owners of the club."

Click here for Man Utd's SEC filing.

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