Kroenke Increases Arsenal Stake To 20%
US entrepreneur and club non-executive director Stan Kroenke has increased his stakeholding in Premier League club Arsenal to just over 20%, at a cost of £42.5m.
Kroenke has purchased 5,000 ordinary shares at £8,500 apiece from fellow Gunners director Danny Fiszman.
Previously, Kroenke had held a 12% stake in the club largely as a result of shares his firm Kroenke Sports Enterprises purchased from ITV in 2007.
In September 2008, Kroenke accepted an offer to become a non-executive director of the Premier League club.
If KSE – which also owns the Denver Nuggets basketball franchise, the Colorado Avalanche ice hockey team and Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids – increases its stake to 30% it will be obliged to launch a takeover bid under financial regulations.
However, the Arsenal directors have a ‘lockdown’ agreement in place – which means they cannot sell their shares to anyone before April 2009 other than a limited number of people, such as family members.
After that, until October 2012, they cannot sell to anyone else without giving the other directors the first option to buy.
Kroenke is now the second biggest shareholder in the club behind Uzbekistani metals magnate Alisher Usmanov, whose Red and White Holdings group owns 25% after paying about £75m for the 14.65% holding previously held by former vice-chairman David Dein.
