Jim is a first-class businessman who brings with him an energy and commitment that few could match. His knowledge and experience will be a great asset to the board in our future growth.”United, who are certain to benefit from Mr O’Neill’s extensive City contacts, will be keen to stress his independence. Supporters are likely to welcome the appointment of a self-proclaimed “lifelong fan”, however, if only because they feel that no genuine fan would ever be supportive of a takeover of their club.Oliver Houston, a spokesman for the Shareholders United fans’ group, said: “We wish him the best of luck. He will take up his post as independent non-executive director next Monday.The appointment came less than a week after Malcolm Glazer, United’s second-largest shareholder, ousted three directors at the club’s annual meeting in retaliation for the board refusing to back his proposed takeover.United insisted yesterday that Mr O’Neill was not a direct replacement for any of the three.

Manchester United bolstered its depleted board yesterday by appointing a big City name, Jim O’Neill, the head of global economic research at Goldman Sachs.
Mr O’Neill, 47, who was born in Manchester, already owns a 0.5 per cent stake in the club, worth about £3.6m. TBI also owns airports in Orlando, Florida, Stockholm and Bolivia.. “I couldn’t see the company going for less than 90p a share,” one analyst said yesterday.The company announced this week that operating profits increased 8 per cent and passenger numbers across its airports were up 12 per cent. It is used as the major UK hub for easyJet and Ryanair, and TBI has discussed plans with Luton’s local authority to extend the airport to accommodate 30 million passengers a year. TBI’s management has also been rumoured to be interested in a buyout, but it is understood that it is not the party involved.The bidder is thought to have taken interest in TBI after it announced earlier this year that it would take complete ownership of Luton airport, paying £78m to buy out the minority stake held by Alterra.

Luton has seen a boom in passenger numbers and profitability after the birth of low-cost airlines. Vinci, the French construction company which mounted a failed takeover bid in 2001, was also named, but ruled itself out last night. It sold its remaining 10 per cent stake in TBI earlier this year.Hochtief, the German construction company, which has also shown previous interest in Luton, also ruled itself out It walked away from talks in January this year. It pulled out of takeover talks in 2001 at the last minute after the World Trade Centre attacks, which shook global travel markets. They closed 13 per cent up at 86p, valuing the group at about £500m.TBI said discussions were only at a “preliminary stage, and there could be no assurances that agreement could be reached”.Analysts were left to speculate on the potential bidder, with Macquarie Airports, an Australian company, named as a possible candidate.

TBI, the regional airport operator behind Luton, Cardiff and Belfast International, said yesterday that it had received a takeover approach. National Grid confirmed it plans to raise the full-year dividend by 20 per cent subject to completion of the local network sales.. At present, only 80 masts are being used to broadcast the BBC’s digital service Freeview.Underlying pre-tax profits for the first six months were up 6 per cent at £394m and the dividend was lifted by 7 per cent. We look at the scene all the time.”Mr Urwin also forecast a big expansion in the group’s radio mast business following the £1.1bn takeover earlier this year of Crown Castle as more mobile operators roll out their third generation networks and the switchover from analogue to digital television nears.Mr Urwin said that 3G networks needed twice the number of masts as the 2G networks they are replacing.

Meanwhile, all of its 1,154 towers would need upgrading when the national switchover to digital television takes place in 2012. National Grid plans to use £2.3bn of that to pay down debt and estimates that once the sell-off is complete its total indebtedness will have fallen to about £10bn.Credit rating agencies calculate that will give the company the firepower to make an acquisition worth about £3bn – the same as it paid for the US electricity transmission and distribution business Niagara Mohawk.The US, where National Grid also owns the larger New England-based transmission company NEES, will account for about 40 per cent of group operating profits once the sale of the UK local networks is complete. It is a big market, there will be further consolidation and we are well positioned to take part in it. Roger Urwin, the chief executive of National Grid, refused to be drawn on whether the company was currently looking at potential US takeover targets But he added: “Inevitably, it remains of interest. The benefit will start to feed through to consumer bills when a new price control formula takes effect in 2008.The sale of the four local networks will raise £5.8bn. The £2bn National Grid intends to hand back to its 1.4 million shareholders through an issue of B shares works out at an average payout of £1,430.The regulator said that the £225m figure was a conservative one and could go as high as £500m. The financial benefit to gas customers from the sale of four of National Grid Transco’s local gas networks will be dwarfed by a £2bn payback to shareholders planned by the company.
Ofgem, the industry regulator, yesterday estimated that the benefit to the country’s 21 million gas households would amount to about £225m spread over an 18-year period – equivalent to 60p per household per year.