Manchester United is doing a Facebook, in that it is to list on the US stock exchange. The comparisons with Facebook end there, however - the football club plans to raise only $100m in the initial public offering (see Facebook's $104bn).

This is in fact much less than it had been hoping to raise in Singapore, where it was initially seeking a $1bn IPO. The price difference reflects the fast-growing football-mad Asian market, a sharp contrast to the US where football is fast fading as a popular sport.

The plan has switched nevertheless, after the Asian IPO was put on hold following a warning by underwriters led by Morgan Stanley. They cited the volatile markets that lead Graff Diamonds and Formula One to pull or delay Asian IPOs.Instead, the New York-based investment bank Jefferies persuaded the company to list on the US stock exchange. Jefferies, along with Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase, will lead the offering.

The new plan will be skewed less towards attracting small investors, where the level of public interest would matter, and more towards institutions. As a US listed company the club will also have the advantage of falling under the category “emerging growth company”. This gives it some extra lee-way in deadlines in reporting its finances, under the recently passed US Jobs Act.