Kroenke Closer To Arsenal Takeover

Arsenal’s US director Stan Kroenke has moved nearer to the stage when he would have to make an offer for the entire stockholding of the club after bolstering his stake to 29.6%.

The US sports entrepreneur has bought another 427 shares in Arsenal’s holding company, at a cost of £3.6m, taking his shareholding to 29.6%.

He bought the shares at £8,500 each, which values the club at about £529m, and is nearing the 29.99% threshold, beyond which he would be forced to make an offer for the remaining shares.

Kroenke acquired more stock from the estate of the late British industrialist Ernest Harrison.
 
At Arsenal’s annual general meeting at the Emirates Stadium on 22nd October, Kroenke was asked what his intentions were for the north London club.

However he chose not to speak to the gathered shareholders, with chairman Peter Hill-Wood intervening.

Hill-Wood pointed out that under takeover rules any public statements regarding future bid intentions must be unambiguous, otherwise the individual concerned would be prevented from making a formal takeover move for six months.

Kroenke, who owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rapids MLS football team, has been gradually increasing his stake in Arsenal this year through a number of different share purchases.

As well as Kroenke, the other major shareholders are Uzbeki tycoon Alisher Usmanov, who holds a stake of about 25%, Danny Fiszman, and Lady Bracewell-Smith.

According to the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, roughly 13% of the club’s shares are held by small shareholders.