Stan Kroenke tables £1.8bn cash offer to buy Arsenal | City A.M.
US sports tycoon Stan Kroenke has made an all-cash offer to buy Arsenal in a deal valuing the club at £1.8bn.
Kroenke already owns 67 per cent of the football club’s shares, but wants to buy the remaining stock and make the company 100 per cent privately owned.
The second largest shareholder of the club is Alisher Usmanov, who owns around 30 per cent of Arsenal shares.
The deal is worth £29,419 a share, and follows Usmanov rejecting a slightly smaller offer last year, when he said his stake in the company was needed to protect the interests of the club and its fans.
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Kroenke, the sole owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, also owns National Football League side the Los Angeles Rams and National Basketball Association team the Denver Nuggets.
In a statement, Kroenke said:
We at KSE are moving forward with this offer leading to 100 per cent ownership of the club. We appreciate Mr Usmanov’s dedication to the Arsenal Football Club and the storied ethos and history the club represents.
The offer to the London Stock Exchange said the change would “open a new chapter” in the history of the club. Kroenke said a single owner would be able to move more quickly to drive strategy forward.
The move has not gone down well with Arsenal supporters.
The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) said the move marked a “dreadful day” as Kroenke may forcibly take shares from fans.
“Stan Kroenke taking the club private will see the end of supporters owning shares in Arsenal and their role upholding custodianship values,” a statement from the trust read.
“The most dreadful part of this announcement is the news that Kroenke plans to forcibly purchase the shares held by Arsenal fans.
“Many of these fans are AST members and hold their shares not for value but as custodians who care for the future of the club. Kroenke’s actions will neuter their voice and involvement.
“The AST is wholly against this takeover. Arsenal remains too important to be owned by any one person.”
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