Irish racing tycoons raise stake in Man United

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson (pictured) is feuding with Irish racing tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus -- the football club's biggest shareholders. Magnier and McManus have raised their stake in Manchester United to just under 29 percent.

Irish racing tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus have raised their stake in Manchester United to just under 29 percent, the English Premiership club confirmed.

The club said Magnier and McManus had bought a further eight million shares through their investment company Cubic Expression.

Reports said Wednesday that they had acquired a 4 percent stake from Dutch media tycoon John de Mol.

The deal means that the pair's investment company, Cubic Expression, holds 28.89 percent of the shares in the English Premiership club.

This is just less than the 29.9 percent threshold above which an offer to buy out the club would have to be made.

Magnier and McManus appear to be trying to oust manager Alex Ferguson who is sueing them over the stud rights to champion race horse Rock of Gibraltar.

In 2001, Magnier gave Ferguson joint ownership of the horse without charging him a penny but Ferguson assumed he was being given a half share of stud fees which could be worth upto 200 million pounds and is sueing Magnier.

Last month Manchester announced they had agreed a new 12-month rolling contract with the 62-year-old Ferguson.

Sir Alex's current contract would have expired in June 2005 and the new contract is extended for a year.

It was widely understood that pressure from Magnier and McManus resulted in United shelving plans to reward Ferguson for more than 16 glory-rich years of service with a new four-year contract.

Sources inside the United camp were playing down the significance of Wednesday's move but there is little doubt that it increases the focus on chairman Sir Roy Gardner and chief executive David Gill.

Magnier and McManus' legal team are currently looking at United's official response to the 99 corporate governance questions they posed last month that highlighted what they believed to be flaws in the club's financial structures, particularly the amount of money paid out to agents, including Ferguson's son Jason.

If they do not find the response satisfactory, they could force an emergency general meeting, demand a place on the board or report their concerns to the Financial Services Authority.