Malcolm Glazer today confirmed he has passed the 90 per cent ownership threshold needed for him to be able to de-list Manchester United from the London Stock Exchange and take the company private.

The American sports tycoon revealed that he has increased his stake in the Premiership football club to 97.3 per cent.

The announcement, made by Mr Glazer’s Red Football investment vehicle, means he is fractionally short of the 97.6 per cent stake he would need to proceed with a compulsory purchase of any remaining shares.

Red Football said: "Red owns or has received valid acceptances of the offer in respect of a total of 257,906,287 Manchester United shares, representing approximately 97.3 per cent of the issued share capital of Manchester United."

Henk Potts, of Barclays, the stockbrocker, said: "It may be 97.3 per cent ownership but it’s 100 per cent game over now.

"He’s won the battle for Manchester United, the question is now whether he can win the war - which is repaying the loans and huge premiums."

Red Football has extended its offer for the remaining shares until June 27. Shareholders originally had until 3pm yesterday to accept the Glazer family’s 300p-a-share offer.

The Glazer family had already gained control of the club, but fans had hoped to hold on to sufficient shares to make life difficult for Mr Glazer, who they believe will saddle United with too much debt.

Mr Glazer's strategy in the £790 million takeover rests on £540 million of borrowing, including a £265 million loan facility secured against United’s assets. The Glazer family will provide £272 million towards the takeover.

Details of Mr Glazer’s plans for the club were also said to include raising its revenues by 52 per cent by 2010 to £245.6 million, from £161.5 million this year.

The offer document posted to shareholders last month indicated that United shares could be removed from the London Stock Exchange on June 22, "or as soon thereafter as is practicable".

Mr Glazer may yet choose not to buy 100 per cent of the shares in the company, as this would increase the cost of the takeover to £831 million. Any residual shareholders would have no effective voting rights or real value in their shares.

However, he might want to rid himself of the irritation of minority shareholders. Just 50 shareholders can apply to a court to block the special resolution taking the company private, a course of action threatened by supporter pressure groups.

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