Chairman aims to take Sheffield Utd private

LONDON (Reuters) - English soccer club Sheffield United said on Friday its chairman and main investor, property entrepreneur Kevin McCabe, planned to take the company private.

McCabe and members of his family already control 75.17 percent of the English Championship (second division) club.

They now plan to underwrite an equity fundraising and make a cash offer for the remainder of the shares in the business. The company, which has a market value of 32 million pounds, would then be delisted from the London Stock Exchange AIM market.

Sheffield's board said it had agreed in principle to undertake a fundraising and was in talks with McCabe's holding company, Scarborough, which might or might not lead to an offer.

Discussions were at an early stage and no formal offer for the company had yet been put to the board, it added.

If the deal goes through, McCabe plans to separate the company's property interests from the soccer club. Such a move would ensure that the downturn in the commercial property market did not unnecessarily burden the club, he said.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Quentin Bryar)