Manchester United has picked the New York Stock Exchange to make its stock market debut, ending months of speculation over where the football club would list.

After first eyeing a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), the English Premier League giants had planned a US$1-billion (S$1.26-billion) listing in Singapore in the second half of last year before putting plans on hold because of market turmoil.

The US-owned club filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to raise up to US$100 million in an IPO of its Class A ordinary shares in New York.

The figure in the initial paperwork is typically a placeholder and there is speculation that the club will be seeking to raise up to US$1 billion.

Manchester United may seek to complete the IPO later this summer in New York, it was reported.

Reports had first surfaced last month that the club had dropped its plans for an Asian listing in favour of a US one.

Manchester United had previously traded on the London Stock Exchange before Mr Malcolm Glazer, an American who also controls the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team, acquired the company in 2005.

The club's debt as of March 31 was £423.3 million (S$837 million), according to the filing, which it intends to repay using the net proceeds from this offering. Manchester United plans to sell an undisclosed number of Class A shares, which have one vote each. The Glazer family will hold Class B shares, which will have 10 votes apiece, effectively keeping the club's management within its control.

Jefferies, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan , Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank Securities are underwriting the IPO, Manchester United said in a preliminary prospectus.

This leaves out Morgan Stanley, which was one of the investment banks originally expected to underwrite the Singapore listing.

TODAY